Durban — Victory and Venus are the South African Association for Marine Biological Research’s (Saambr) new African penguin chicks that hatched in the penguin colony in July.
Their parents, Snoop Dogg and Levi and Alladin and Kelso have been looking after them around the clock.
On Friday, Saambr’s Ann Kunz said: “Venus had a bit of a shaky start and had to get some supplemental feeds from the animal care staff as she was not gaining weight initially, but she has bounced back strongly and is increasing in size daily.”
“Our birds, like Snoop Dogg, Levi, Alladin and Kelso, form part of an assurance population which is an important part of a functional species survival plan for endangered species.”
Kunz said that the Department of Fisheries, Forestry and the Environment (DFFE), together with various conservation organisations and research institutions have been monitoring the African penguin population and noted an 8% decline per year since 2005 which puts them at risk of becoming functionally extinct within the next 2 decades.
She said that to understand the threats and how to mitigate some of them, DFFE appointed an international review panel in December 2022. Highly esteemed scientists worked together and delivered a report to the department in July 2023 with the short-term recommendations of excluding fishing around island breeding colonies.
She also said that research at Dassen and Robben islands demonstrated that closing fishing around these breeding colonies is likely to reduce the rate of decline in the population to some extent, while various other contributing factors need to be taken into consideration too.
“Balancing the interests of penguins, the fishing industry, and accurate assessment of closure impacts, including the absence of closures, presents a complex challenge. Evaluating closure options involves making policy choices that align with South Africa's conservation, economic, and societal aspirations,” Kunz said.
“We hope that there is indeed more hope for these special birds, for southern Africa’s only penguin species, to not just survive but to hopefully again one day thrive in the wild.”
Meanwhile, last week, the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation said that at the current rate of decline over 500 breeding pairs of the iconic African penguins in the wild may be obliterated this year and every year for the next decade, according to scientific research. By 2035, there probably will not be enough breeding pairs left for the species to survive in the wild.
The #NotOnOurWatch campaign (#NOOW), created by the Cape Town-based Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation and its South African and global partners, including The Florida Aquarium, Georgia Aquarium and Australia’s Zoos Victoria, are taking action.
Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation Executive of Strategic Projects and President of the International Zoo Educators Association Dr Judy Mann said: “Not on our watch will the African penguin go extinct in the wild.”
“If fisheries, the South African government, oil and shipping companies, management agencies, scientists, conservationists, international allies and the public work together, we can stop African penguin numbers from declining every year.”
She said that the #NOOW campaign’s strategy is to raise worldwide public awareness about the plight of the African penguin, to encourage the South African government to enact stricter policies and laws that will ensure this species continues to exist in the wild and to support the conservation community.
“One of the biggest challenges is food availability. With fish stocks collapsing and fewer sardines available, African penguins are struggling to get enough food,” Mann said.
“Colony management, habitat for breeding, disease, predation by seals and gulls and the impact of storms and flooding are added challenges for the African penguin.”
She said that other threats include oil pollution near African penguin colonies and increased noise pollution, which is detrimental to penguins and other marine species. But gloom is for the naysayers and giving up is not an option.
Mann added that instead of the public watching helplessly as extinction beckons, the #NOOW campaign is planning a Worldwide Waddle on October 14, which is International African Penguin Awareness Day. The campaign wants nature-loving children, adults, sports clubs, businesses, conservation groups, communities, radio stations, television outlets, newspapers, suburbs, towns, villages and cities, both inland and in coastal areas around the world, to join or arrange waddles and post their support, starting today, to social media, tagging #NOOW.
The campaign also wants penguin lovers everywhere to email their encouragement to South Africa’s Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy, who has also vowed that not on her watch will these penguins disappear. Go to www.africanpenguins.org to hit a button and send the letter and to find out more about the waddles.
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