African penguins thrown a lifeline

The survival of African penguins received a “massive boost” on Tuesday with a landmark court order to protect the fishing grounds around islands with critical breeding colonies through tighter restrictions on fishing.

“It’s been a huge effort on the part of the conservation sector and the fishing industry who’ve negotiated hard and we are extremely pleased with the outcome,” Kate Handley, executive director of the Biodiversity Law Centre, said on Tuesday of their victory.

“This is a step in the right direction. We are confident with the correct monitoring that we will start seeing reverses in the declining population trends. We hope we can rely on the department to amend the permit conditions and get closures in place as soon as possible,” said Handley, whose team represented BirdLife SA and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB).

In a world where species are disappearing at an unprecedented rate, this is a significant and symbolic win for biodiversity. South Africa ranked in the top 20 countries with a high number of species facing extinction in a 2023 survey, with 477 species including the African penguin and black rhino at risk.

The IUCN listed the African penguin as critically endangered last year, warning they faced functional extinction by 2035.

The fishing industry, BirdLife SA and SANCCOB reached an out of court agreement last week, supported by minister of forestry, fisheries and the environment Dion George. He had met the parties involved and encouraged them to establish a working group “to seek consensus on the island closures” to benefit African penguins, which they eventually did independently.

We are confident with the correct monitoring that we will start seeing reverses in the declining population trends.

—  Kate Handley, executive director of the Biodiversity Law Centre

Craig Smith, a senior marine specialist with the WWF South Africa, said on Tuesday: “This is indeed a massive boost for African penguin conservation ... The precipitous decline of the African penguin is a complex matter and has been the subject of much contestation on the most effective conservation measures.”

The win was the result of enormous collaboration between the conservation organisations, scientists and their legal team, including external counsel Kameshni Pillay and Andrew Molver, said Handley.

The team — supported by protesters outside the Pretoria High Court with placards reading Extinction is a Life Sentence — were the first to appear before Gauteng deputy judge president Aubrey Phago Ledwaba on Tuesday morning and the court order was quickly signed, she said.

The WWF congratulated all the parties in reaching the out of court agreement on island closures and urged the department to implement them immediately, ahead of the upcoming breeding season. 

The agreed island closures, informed by scientific evidence and lasting 10 years, include:

• Dassen Island: interim closure as per current permit conditions.
• Robben Island: a 20km closure, consistent with the Island Closure Experiment.
• Stony Point: closure as depicted by the black hatched line in the agreed diagram, applicable to all fishing vessels.
• Dyer Island: interim closure as reflected in current permit conditions.
• St Croix Island: closure delineated by co-ordinates (western boundary: 25°45'E; southern boundary: 34°01' to 25°50'E; southern boundary east: 33°59' to 25°59'E; eastern boundary to MPA: 25°59'E).
• Bird Island: a 20km closure radius from the lighthouse, as implemented during the Island Closure Experiment.

“These measures ... represent a balanced approach to conserving penguin habitats while respecting the needs of the fishing industry,” George stated. “This agreement is a testament to what can be achieved when industries and conservationists unite for a common cause.”

African penguins face multiple threats to their survival, such as the degradation of safe nesting habitats, ship traffic and pollution, but disappearing fish stocks are a critical driver of their sharp decline.

In the past 100 years, the number of breeding pairs off the coast of South Africa has plummeted from more than a million to about 10,000.

Another threat to penguins globally is the warming of oceans, driven by the climate crisis. On Monday, President Cyril Ramaphosa proclaimed the Climate Change Act which provides a framework for South Africa to mitigate and adapt to climate change and transition to a climate-resilient, low-carbon economy.

“The act represents a critical milestone not just for environmental sustainability, but for economic development and job creation ... and building a sustainable future for South Africa,” George said of the proclamation, which means the Climate Change Act comes into operation.

This week’s milestones to protect South Africa’s environment and biodiversity will be remembered as historic, if they are effectively implemented without delays.