LPF celebrates SANCCOB’s hard-fought victory to protect the critically endangered African penguin as the South African government bans commercial fishing around six key African penguin breeding colonies.
It’s a move conservationists hope will help pull a species back from the brink: a 10-year ban on commercial fishing around key African penguin breeding colonies along the South African coast – one of them around the iconic Robben Island.
The no-fishing zones are intended to secure biologically meaningful foraging areas for African penguins, which have suffered severe population declines due to habitat loss, pollution (especially from oil spills) and competing with fisheries for their main food sources – sardines and anchovies.
The decision follows a legal settlement between the government, the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), BirdLife South Africa, and the commercial fishing industry.
SANCCOB Head of Conservation Nicky Stander told The Guardian: “Today’s order is a significant step forward in our fight to save the African Penguin from extinction … However, while we celebrate today’s success, we remain acutely aware that our journey is far from over. The threats facing the African Penguin are complex and ongoing.”
According to an article in the Daily Maverick, African penguin numbers declined from 15,187 breeding pairs in 2018 to an estimated 8,750 at the end of 2023. The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List moved the species from ‘endangered’ to ‘critically endangered’ in 2024. Without urgent intervention, the African penguin is expected to be extinct in the wild by 2035.
Our founder, Lewis Pugh, welcomed the news and praised SANCCOB’s tireless efforts to protect African penguins: “Great news that the SA government has finally declared no-take zones around key African penguin breeding colonies. My friends at SANCCOB have worked tirelessly for many years to make this happen, and they deserve to be widely praised for this hard-fought victory. The battle is far from over, but this may give African penguins a fighting chance if properly enforced. If there’s a lesson to be learnt, then it is that we need to be much quicker in heeding the warnings scientists are giving us.”
LPF founder Lewis Pugh assists SANCCOB in a rehabilitated African penguin release in 2020
Read the full coverage in The Guardian and the Daily Maverick.
Read more about LPF’s work with SANCCOB and Lewis’s urgent call for action in 2020 to help save the African penguin.
