CapeNature and the Western Cape Government have taken steps to guard against the impending extinction of Cape Town’s African penguins.
Cape {town} Etc reports that Dave Bryant of the DA wholly supports the steps taken to preserve the African penguin colonies in the region.
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Dave Bryant is the DA Western Cape Spokesperson on Environmental Affairs and Development Planning.
Bryant has welcomed the steps taken to guarantee the preservation of the Stony Point, Dassen Island and Dyer Island African penguin colonies.
‘The African penguin is an endangered species that has recently seen a dramatic decline in breeding pairs’ claims Bryant in a released statement.
He goes on to say that a total of 4 270 African penguin breeding pairs are under the jurisdiction of CapeNature, spanning the three colonies.
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The Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning confirmed that CapeNature has enacted measures which align with the goals and actions detailed in the African Penguin Biodiversity Management Plan.
The outlined goals and actions include maintaining a partnership with The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) in the management of the colony in so far as it relates to injured or oiled seabirds and African penguin egg and chick rescue amidst dangerous weather conditions.
The partnership further includes the collection of surveillance data for African penguins and other breeding seabirds.
The surveillance also includes monitoring of breeding success, predation and moult.
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Bryant said that in addition, focus will be directed to ensuring that the response process to catastrophic events and their impacts is clear and easily implementable.
Catastrophic events include oil spills and extreme weather and response processes include flood mitigation actions as well as site-specific oil spill response plans.
In partnership with BirdlifeSA and SANCCOB, CapeNature claims that the process of evaluating the establishment of a land-based African penguin breeding colony linked to the eastward shift of small pelagic fish populations at De Hoop Nature Reserve, has commenced.
‘The DA commends CapeNature on their efforts to save the African penguin, which is an important part of the Western Cape’s natural heritage’ said Bryant, according to IOL.
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Picture: Clyde Thomas / Pexels
