For conservation leaders at the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), witnessing the decline in population numbers of the African penguin is both a visceral and heartbreaking experience. 

A species that once numbered in its millions across colonies spanning Southern African islands like Dassen, Robben, and Stony Point, the African penguin – a flightless icon of Africa’s southern coasts – has in years more recent suffered a 97% loss in population numbers, finding itself reduced now to an estimated 8,500 breeding pairs.

Such is the plight, that today much of the focus of SANCCOB’s work is targeted on the conservation of what small number of the African penguin is left in the wild. Where once there was an abundance of sardines and anchovies, the primary food source for  this particular species of bird, over consumptive local fishing practices now leave SANCCOB’s seabird hospitals ‘filled with emaciated penguins’ – for many of which, their last chance of survival rests on the success of ‘an intravenous drip or blood transfusion’.

“The decline has been absolutely heartbreaking,” SANCCOB’s head of conservation, Nicky Stander, tells Oceanographic. “Seeing a 97% loss in African penguin populations is devastating, especially when we’ve seen so much decline in our lifetime as a consequence of human indifference.”

The biggest issue the African penguin faces right now is a lack of food. A “noticeable increase” in commercial fishing activity, especially purse-seine fishing (which targets the very fish penguins rely on for sustenance) has left the bird’s dwindling population in direct competition with a local, commercial fishing industry. It’s a fight – conservationists with SANCCOB have been quick to point out – that has left too many of the penguins unable to feed themselves, let alone their reliant young.

There are some protections in place, such as a small network of ‘no-take’ zones spanning four of the six major penguin colonies of Dassen Island, Robben Island, Stony Point, Dyer Island, St Croix Island, and Bird Island, areas that today support 76% of the global African penguin population. However, organisations like SANCCOB have lambasted them as “biologically redundant” for only managing to cover “less than half the penguin’s core feeding areas”.   

“This means, penguins are forced to travel further afield to find food, which puts more strain on their energy, and therefore – ultimately – their ability to breed,” says Stander. “Human encroachment on breeding sites, while managed in some areas, still adds unnecessary pressure to colonies already standing on the precipice of extinction.”

Published in the British Ecological Society journal, Ecological Solutions and Evidence just this week, a new study led by researchers at Nelson Mandela University has reported circumstantial evidence to suggest that population numbers of the African penguin may benefit from the help of humans, with breeding rates boosted by the strategic deployment of artificial nests.

Built to mitigate the lack of nesting habitat now accessible to these burrowing seabirds, driven through over exposure to predators and loss of vegetation across their breeding colonies, these artificial nests have been the subject of a 12 year study into their effectiveness in supporting the breeding activity – and success rate – of the African penguin.

Over the course of those 12 years, various artificial nest designs have been tested, including pine plywood, cement, and even fibreglass. It’s is the newest design, however, a double-layered ceramic nest, that has proven to be the most effective in boosting the breeding success rate, resulting in a recorded 16.5% positive uptick in African penguin breeding output.

The study admits, however, that there are still too many uncertainties across the findings – including what makes an artificial nest more attractive to an African penguin than a natural nest in the first place – to be able to draw any conclusive findings.

It also falls somewhat short of addressing the underlying causes of the bird’s population declines: human encroachment upon their habitat and the stark reduction in food within the waters surrounding their colonies.  

It makes the picture that Stander paints all the more vivid when she suggests that “watching these endangered animals struggle to feed their chicks – knowing how many have already been lost – is tough”. 

So, it’s with little surprise we find that the African penguin is now at the very threshold of being classified ‘Critically Endangered’ on the IUCN Red List. Yet, while the species may be an “example of the global biodiversity crisis at its starkest”, mirroring the 73% decline in average global wildlife population numbers we’ve recently seen reported in the latest Living Planet Index from WWF and London Zoological Society, hope for the African penguin is not yet lost.

SANCCOB has, this month, partnered with BirdLife South Africa and the ocean conservation charity, Blue Marine, to take legal action against the South African government in the pursuit of stronger and more impactful measures that “better align to the African penguin’s feeding habits” and the areas from which its staple food is sourced.

“To reverse the fortunes of the African penguin, we need immediate and targeted actions,” says Stander. “First and foremost, expanding and enforcing ‘no-take’ zones in their key feeding areas is critical to ensuring they have access to enough food; legal protections must be strengthened; and fishing quotas need to be revised and an ecosystem approach to fisheries adopted to limit competition for resources.

“On a global scale, the solution lies in promoting sustainable fishing practices, protecting marine habitats, and drastically reducing carbon emissions to mitigate the impacts of climate change. The African penguin’s circumstances exemplify the urgent need for more sustainable practices and better protections for biodiversity, both locally and globally.

“If we fail to address these issues, we risk losing not only individual species but irreparably damaging ecosystems that support life on Earth.”

Key to SANCCOB’s ongoing campaign will be capturing the attention of an international audience. To do this, the organisation has enlisted the help of the South African freediver and social activist, Zandi Ndhlovu, who has launched her own initiative to highlight the fragility of the African penguin population. Her campaign, featuring captured headcam footage of an African penguin on the hunt for food, acts to encourage the international community to support the cause by signing the online petition by Only One.

It’s a weighty importance attached to capturing the imagination of the international community. The African penguin faces extinction in the wild by 2035 if more is not done to curb the current rate of population decline.

In March, this year, the Biodiversity Law Centre – representing BirdLife South Africa and SANCCOB – initiated landmark litigation in the Pretoria High Court invoking the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment’s constitutional obligation to prevent the extinction of an endangered species.

It’s perhaps this then, that will deliver the South African government its own visceral experience, all in the interests of the African penguin.