African Penguins (photographed above at the Boulders penguin colony) are critically endangered. Photo: John Yeld
An in-principle settlement agreement between the fishing industry and conservationists has been hailed as a conservation milestone to protect the country’s critically endangered African penguins.
Last week, the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment announced its support for the agreement, which puts fishing closures in place to protect the seabirds’ six main colonies of Dassen Island, Robben Island, Stony Point, Dyer Island, St Croix Island and Bird Island.
It said the agreement, reached between the commercial small pelagic fishing industry, BirdLife South Africa and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (Sanccob), establishes island closures to protect the country’s penguin populations, which “align with its long-standing vision for collaborative conservation”.
The announcement came on the eve of landmark litigation launched by BirdLife South Africa and Sanccob against the minister of forestry, fisheries and the environment to safeguard African penguins, which was to be heard in the high court in Pretoria this week.
The environmental NGOs, represented by the nonprofit Biodiversity Law Centre, had approached the court in March last year to review and set aside a decision taken by former environment minister Barbara Creecy in August 2023 to put in place interim closures around the seabirds’ six largest breeding colonies.
Their case rested on the irrationality and unlawfulness of the minister’s decision to put in place island closures that were not biologically meaningful.
This, they argued, required the court to set aside the decision and put in place scientifically informed fishing closures, which struck an optimal trade-off between maximising the protection of African penguins’ foraging areas and minimising the negative effects on the industry.
The African penguin, which is endemic to South Africa and Namibia, has lost 97% of its population, with no access to their food — sardines and anchovy — cited as a key driver of their decline. If current trends persist, the species will be extinct in the wild by 2035.
CapeNature said the agreement, pending final legal formalities, is an “important step” in protecting the future of African penguin colonies, including those at provincially managed conservation nodes such as Stony Point Nature Reserve, Dyer Island and Dassen Island.
“Breeding colonies will benefit from continued protection measures and accessing more of their preferred prey — sardines and anchovies — from these closures,” the entity said. “There are also significant management challenges, other than food sources, that need to be addressed if this species is to survive extinction.”
The agreement is a positive indication that all parties want to contribute to the conservation effort, noted Anton Bredell, the Western Cape MEC for local government, environmental affairs and development planning. He added that CapeNature is committed to this conservation effort.
CapeNature said it will continue its monitoring and partnership efforts, which includes collaborating with both municipal and national government departments, NGOs and local communities.
“The African penguin remains a firm favourite among our many visitors to the Western Cape and is a key contributor to our tourism offering and the many local jobs that it supports.”
After his appointment, current Forestry, Fisheries and Environment Minister Dion George instructed his legal team to work to settle the matter. He requested a meeting with all parties, without their legal representatives. Only the fishing industry accepted. He then requested a meeting with all parties with their legal representatives.
“At that meeting, he instructed the establishment of a working group to seek consensus on the island closures to the benefit of the now critically endangered African penguin. This settlement, which was independently reached by the parties involved, reflects a science-based, cooperative effort to implement effective closures around key penguin breeding islands,” the department said.
For Bird Island, the agreed island closure is a 20km closure radius from the lighthouse, as implemented during the island closure experiment, while St Croix Island and Stony Point will have a new no-fishing closure area. Robben Island will have a 20km fisheries exclusion zone consistent with the island closure experiment while Dassen Island and Dyer Island will retain the interim closures under the current permit conditions.
“These measures, subject to being made an order of court and reflecting the duration outlined in the previous minister’s decision of 4 August 2023, represent a balanced approach to conserving penguin habitats while respecting the needs of the fishing industry,” the department said.
George said the agreement “sets a powerful precedent for environmental collaboration” and is a “triumph for all South Africans.
