Endangered African penguins starved en masse off South Africa due to sardine shortages, with some colonies losing 95% of their population since 2004.
JOHANNESBURG: Endangered African penguins off South Africa’s coast have likely starved en masse due to critical food shortages.
A study published Friday reveals some penguin populations have dropped by 95% in just eight years.
Globally, fewer than 10,000 breeding pairs of the small, black and white bird remain.
The species was listed as critically endangered last year by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Research by the University of Exeter and South Africa’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment found two key breeding colonies near Cape Town collapsed between 2004 and 2011.
An estimated 62,000 birds died in that period.
Co-author and biologist Richard Sherley said sardine populations, a main penguin food source, were consistently below 25% of peak abundance for those eight years.
This severe drop in sardine stocks was caused by fishing and environmental changes like shifting water temperatures and salinity.
Sherley stated this “appears to have caused severe food shortage for African penguins, leading to an estimated loss of about 62,000 breeding individuals”.
The global population has declined by nearly 80% over the past 30 years.
Conservationists warn the bird could be extinct in the wild by 2035 at the current rate of decrease.
Authorities have imposed a commercial fishing ban around six penguin colonies for the past decade, including Robben and Dassen Islands.
Other conservation initiatives include deploying artificial nests and creating new colonies.
The penguins are a major tourist attraction, with thousands visiting colonies annually.
