A recent study reveals that a devastating combination of environmental changes and human fishing practices has led to the starvation of approximately 62,000 adult African penguins along the coast of South Africa over the past decade. This alarming decline represents about 95 percent of their population, highlighting the critical state of the species.
According to conservation biologist Richard Sherley from the University of Exeter, the African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) has experienced a global population decline of nearly 80 percent in the last 30 years. Each year, these penguins spend about 20 days on land to molt their feathers, a period during which they rely on fat reserves built up beforehand. Unfortunately, between 2004 and 2011, stocks of their primary food source, Sardinops sagax sardines, plummeted to just 25 percent of their peak levels.
“If food is too hard to find before they molt or immediately afterwards, they will have insufficient reserves to survive the fast,” explains Sherley. The penguins’ plight is compounded by the fact that large numbers of carcasses are not typically found, suggesting that many likely die at sea due to starvation.
Mass starvation impacted two critical breeding sites for African penguins during the years noted, leading to the tragic loss of around 62,000 adults. Ecologist Robert Crawford from Cape Town’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment attributes the declining fish stocks to temperature and salinity changes driven by human-induced climate change. Furthermore, relentless pressures from the fishing industry exacerbate the situation.
“Adult survival, principally through the crucial annual molt, was strongly related to prey availability,” Sherley adds. He notes that high sardine exploitation rates, which reached 80 percent in 2006, coincided with a period of environmental changes that likely worsened penguin mortality.
As of 2024, the African penguin is classified as critically endangered, with fewer than 10,000 breeding pairs remaining. Local measures have provided limited relief, drawing parallels to the mass mortality of river dolphins. Sherley emphasizes the need for fisheries management strategies that reduce sardine exploitation when their biomass is below 25 percent of maximum levels. Such measures could potentially allow more adult penguins to survive and spawn, although this approach remains contentious among stakeholders.
Without addressing the ongoing environmental changes, restoring penguin populations will be challenging. Researchers caution that, if current trends continue, African penguins may face extinction within a decade.
The broader implications of these findings reflect a dire reality: human activities are leading to unprecedented declines in wildlife populations globally. Since the 1970s, animal populations have decreased by over two-thirds, alongside alarming losses in marine ecosystems and various species, including eels, birds, African elephants, and river dolphins.
The research published in the journal Ostrich underscores the urgent need for a significant reduction in fossil fuel use to combat this planetary-scale loss of biodiversity. The message is clear: without systemic changes, the fate of many species hangs in the balance.
