In a bid to save the declining population of African penguins in what used to be the biggest colonies in the world, the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) has declared some areas around the major penguin colonies closed to commercial fishing for anchovy and sardines.

In a statement on Friday, the department’s spokesperson, Albi Modise, said the restrictions, which include defined areas around Dassen Island, Robben Island, Stony Point and Dyer Island in the Western Cape, and St Croix Island and Bird Island in the Eastern Cape, followed prolonged negotiations with seabird conservation groups and pelagic fishing industry representatives.

“While these closures do not represent a consensus position between the two sectors, the department is of the view that this is the best decision we can take at this stage to support penguin populations.

“During the negotiations, both sectors were committed to discussions and offered meaningful contributions from insights into the fishing industry and conservation science. The department has thanked the pelagic fishing industry and conservation organisations and their representatives for contributing to these discussions,” he said.

International review panel 

Modise said the closures would be temporary to allow for an international scientific panel to be set up to review all the relevant scientific output from recent years.

“The review will advise the department on the value of fishing limitations for penguins’ success, as well as the impacts such limitations will have on the fishing industry. Both sectors have committed to abiding by the recommendations of the international panel. The minister [Barbara Creecy] will shortly release a [Government] Gazette calling for nominations to serve on the international review panel,” he said.

Modise said sardine stocks in South African waters were at historic low levels. Competition for food is thought to be among the pressures contributing to the decline of the African penguin population.

“Other pressures include shipping traffic and the associated noise and vibrations, pollution and degradation of suitable nesting habitats through historic removal of guano, and coastal commercial and residential developments,” said Modise.

He said the species, which is endemic to South Africa and Namibia, had decreased from more than a million breeding pairs to about 10,000 pairs over the past century.

“The terms of reference for the science review and the panel members were established in consultation with the representatives from the fishing and bird conservation sectors. The interim fishing limitations came into effect from 1 September 2022 to the 14th of January 2023 and include defined areas around Dassen Island, Robben Island, Stony Point, Dyer Island, St Croix Island and Bird Island.

“These represent the remaining locations of the larger penguin colonies. Purse seine fishing is also not permitted in False Bay, which hosts the resident Boulders Beach penguin population,” he said.

‘Great news’

Ronelle Friend, an environmental chemist and the Algoa Bay Conservation spokesperson, said the halting of the commercial fishing of anchovy and sardine near key penguin colonies was much appreciated. 

“This is great news and shows a definite willingness of the department to address the loss of the endangered African penguins.

“Past studies that were done on island closures were controversial, [with] the departmental scientist indicating a positive effect, while the pelagic fishing industry pointed out that the results did not have a significant, if any, impact on the growth of the colonies. 

“The previous studies involved a non-fishing zone around some of the island for more than a year and it appeared that two totally opposing and perhaps biased opinions were formulated,” said Friend.

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She said Minister Creecy was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea… the departmental scientists and the pelagic fishing industry.

“Now the minister made a plan to stop fishing around some of the islands for a four-month period, starting from 1 September 2022 to 14 January 2023. Of course, the time frame is much too short to obtain meaningful results. However, this gives the minister the opportunity to appoint an international scientific panel to be involved and to assist her in making science-based evaluations,” Friend said. 

She said that with the appointment of an international panel to review current and past results, an independent, credible and unbiased conclusion could hopefully be drawn and recommendations made.

“The two sides [scientists and the pelagic fishing industry] have agreed to abide by the internal panel’s decision. The minister went further by stopping purse seine fishing in False Bay, where the Boulders Beach penguins are. This is further great news and it can have a positive effect on that colony. 

Specific risks

“It is indicative that the minister is now considering risks to the individual colonies and is addressing those. This is what we have been asking from the minister all along, to look at each colony on its own, assess the risks and act on those specific risks by minimising or eliminating them, not to cast her net widely over all the colonies, since their risks differ,” said Friend.

She said in their response to the draft African Penguin Biodiversity Management Plan in August 2022, they had asked Creecy to pay specific attention to the significant risk posed by ship-to-ship (STS) bunkering to the African penguin colony at St Croix Island in Algoa Bay.  

“We had shown that the penguin demise occurred in the last six years, [during which time] STS bunkering [increased] by 84%. Is this just a coincidence? We have lost the largest penguin colony in SA and something drastic has to be done.”

She said they were calling on Creecy to commission the international panel to, as a matter of urgency, also evaluate the impact of ship-to-ship bunkering on the penguin population in Algoa Bay. 

“This is crucial for the survival of the last remaining penguins on the island,” said Friend. DM/OBP