60,000 African penguins starve to death after sardine numbers collapse – study
More than 60,000 penguins in colonies off the coast of South Africa have starved to death as a result of disappearing sardines, a new paper has found. This alarming statistic highlights the devastating impact of climate change and overfishing on the African penguin population.
The African penguin species has undergone a population decline of nearly 80% in 30 years. The study, published in Ostrich: Journal of African Ornithology, reveals that more than 95% of the African penguins in two of the most important breeding colonies, on Dassen Island and Robben Island, died between 2004 and 2012. The breeding penguins probably starved to death during the moulting period, which takes about 21 days, as they have to stay on land and fatten up beforehand to survive the fasting period.
The losses recorded in those colonies were not isolated, said the paper. Dr Richard Sherley, from the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter, stated that the African penguin species has undergone a population decline of nearly 80% in 30 years. The study found that the biomass of the sardine species Sardinops sagax had fallen to 25% of its maximum abundance off the coast of western South Africa for every year except three since 2004. These fish are a key food source for African penguins, and changes in temperature and salinity off the west coast of Africa have made their spawning less successful.
In 2024, African penguins were classified as critically endangered, with fewer than 10,000 breeding pairs left. The study's co-author, Dr Azwianewi Makhado, from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment in South Africa, suggests that more sustainable fisheries management could improve the penguins' chances of survival. Conservation efforts are underway, including building artificial nests to shelter chicks, managing predators, and hand-rearing adults and chicks who need rescuing.
However, the situation is still extremely concerning, as Professor Lorien Pichegru of Nelson Mandela University in South Africa points out. She highlights decades-long mismanagement of small fish populations in South Africa and emphasizes the need for urgent action to address extremely low levels of small fish stocks, not only for African penguins but also for other endemic species depending on these stocks.
