Research has revealed a devastating decline in African penguin populations along the South African coast. More than 60,000 penguins have starved in two major breeding colonies between 2004 and 2012. Scientists say the crisis is driven by overfishing and the effects of global warming.
African Penguin (Bernard DUPONT, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Since 2004, sardine populations off South Africa’s west coast have fallen to just 25 percent of their normal levels. Intense fishing has decimated the once magnificent sardine run, while warmer waters and changes in ocean salinity have disrupted sardine spawning. A new study revealed that this has left penguins and other marine species struggling to survive.
The problem of moulting
African penguins rely heavily on small fish, especially sardines. Each year, these birds shed and replace their worn feathers to keep them waterproof, in a process called moulting. As a result, during this period of about 21 days, they must remain out of water, so they are unable to hunt. To survive, they need to build up fat reserves beforehand. But sardines have become so scarce that the birds simply have not been able to store enough energy to make it through the three weeks without food. Many likely die at sea, rather than on land, for carcasses have not often been found.
African penguins have experienced a nearly 80 percent population decline over the past 30 years. By 2024, they were classified as critically endangered, with fewer than 10,000 breeding pairs left.
Conservation efforts
Conservationists are taking steps to help. Efforts include building artificial nests to shelter chicks, managing predators, hand-rearing vulnerable adults and chicks, and banning commercial purse-seine fishing around the six largest penguin colonies. These measures aim to give penguins better access to fish at critical times in their life cycle.
Fishing mismanagement
Dr Lorien Pichegru, a marine biology professor at Nelson Mandela University, calls the situation “extremely concerning” and warns that decades of mismanagement of small fish populations have left not only African penguins but also other endemic species in danger. “The results of the study are only based on penguins’ survival until 2011, but the situation has not improved over time,” she said, stressing the urgency of restoring fish stocks.
For divers exploring South Africa’s waters, the sight of these penguins is more than a spectacular wildlife encounter—it’s a reminder of how delicate marine ecosystems can be and how human activity can ripple through the ocean in devastating ecological cascades.
