BirdLife South Africa shared the news of an uplisting of the African Penguin by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) from Endangered to now Critically Endangered.
It was uplisted because it is undergoing an extremely rapid population decline, probably because of the impacts of competition with commercial fisheries and climate-mediated shifts in prey populations, the IUCN said in a explanatory notice today (Monday).
Counts of breeding pairs show an alarming acceleration in the rate of decline and the current and future projected population reduction exceeds 80% over three generations.
The IUCN said this trend currently shows no sign of reversing and immediate conservation action is required.
Spheniscus demersus is endemic to Southern Africa, where it breeds at 26 localities in Namibia and South Africa. It was recorded in the far north of Gabon and Mozambique, as well.
The IUCN also said in Namibia, Penguin Island was recolonised in 2006 and Sylvia Hill had 12 confirmed breeding pairs in 2022/2023.
However, in the 1980s, the species colonised Stony Point and Boulders Beach on the South African mainland and recolonised Robben Island, all in the southwest of the country (Underhill et al. 2006).
A colony formed on the southern mainland at De Hoop in 2003, but disappeared after 2007. It is currently being re-established by BirdLife South Africa through translocation of chicks bolstered from other colonies and there is active breeding since 2022 (four breeding pairs were counted in 2023: BirdLife South Africa, unpublished data).
The northernmost colony at Lambert’s Bay became extinct in 2006 (Underhill et al. 2006, Crawford et al. 2011) and the colony at Marcus Island c. 100 km to the south, which once held over 1,000 pairs, may also have gone extinct around 2018 (Makhado et al. 2024).
Consequently there is an estimated continuing decline in the extent of occurrence and the area of occupancy.
Speaking at BirdLife’s Conservation Conversations earlier this year, Dr Alistair McInnes, Seabird Conservation Programme Manager at BirdLife South Africa, said over the last 30 years, the number of African penguins breeding in South Africa has declined by 73% from an estimated 42,700 breeding pairs in 1999 to just 8,500 pairs in 2023.
McInnes said there is fierce competition for their preferred diet- schools of sardines and anchovy.
In fact, results of an experiment using a tank with and without a penguin, illustrated to McInnes and his colleagues, that Penguins are dependent on the abundance of anchovy and sardines.
Fish are decreasing, due to natural processes such as upwelling. This is when cold water with no oxygen from the ocean, rises to the surface.
The regulation of breeding colonies is another major concern and has led to legal steps to force the Minister to consider the proposed areas by bird researchers .
In 2019, BirdLife presented a case of why certain colonies are better for Penguins. The Minister established a panel to review the proposal but implemented findings of another report by a panel of International experts.
The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment closed some areas to commercial fishing for anchovy and sardine, for the next 10 years.
The Department said in a statement back in September 2022, restrictions followed prolonged negotiations with seabird conservation groups and the pelagic fishing industry representatives.
But Kate Handley, Executive Director of the Biodiversity Law Centre, a non- profit organisation, said earlier this year, the main concern about breeding colonies closed by the Minister, is that they are unlikely to reduce extinctions.
She said the point of closures was to provide credible, important recovery, and to also provide a review of harvest catches to sardines and anchovy. The subject is now a legal matter.
On 19 March 2024, the litigation was initiated at the Pretoria High Court, in the interests of Africa’s only penguin species: the Endangered African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus), sea bird organization, SANCCOB, said in a statement.
Kate Handley, Executive Director of the Biodiversity Law Centre, said at the time: “This is the first litigation in South Africa, invoking the Minister’s constitutional obligation to prevent extinction of an endangered species.”
The African Penguin has lost 97% of its population. If current trends persist, the species will be extinct in the wild by 2035.
In his 100 days in office speech earlier in October, in Parliament, Dr Dion George, the New Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, said “I am meeting with lawyers for conservationists and small scale fishers on the litigation currently heading to court. I am certain we can reach a settlement that will ensure the future of our African penguin population in the wild.”