The Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment will hold a high-level meeting along with the fishing industry and conservation stakeholders to address the decline in the breeding populations of the African penguins.
According to the department, African penguins are an iconic Southern African species with important ecological roles as they attract significant national and international tourists annually.
Earlier this year, the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment, Barbara Creecy instructed a joint task team from the department and SANParks to determine management options for the African Penguin based on available evidence in terms of the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) principles of conservation. The team was also tasked with developing a precautionary approach and balancing ecological and socio-economic interests.
Department spokesperson Zolile Nqayi indicated that the endemic African penguin numbers have declined drastically from approximately 52 000 pairs in 2004 to 13 200 pairs in 2019.
Nqayi says If the current population trajectories continue, African penguins could be functionally extinct within 15 years after it was classified as Endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2010.
” The African Penguin population is exposed to a multitude of stressors. These include a lack of available food, predation, climate change, disease, disturbance, shipping vessel activity, competition with other predators for food, as well as the availability and quality of breeding habitat,” Nqayi indicated.
Meanwhile, the decline of the penguin population has resulted in public concern and various requests have been made to address the conservation and protection of the African penguins, as the Minister intends to now finalize the modalities of the interventions around the colonies in consultation with affected stakeholders.
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