Cape Town – Visitors to the penguin colony at their Boulders Beach habitat in Simon’s Town have been encouraged to respect and conserve the important and endangered bird species.
Yesterday marked Penguin Awareness Day and SANParks spokesperson Lauren Howard-Clayton said the Table Mountain National Parks, with Sanccob and the City, had worked hard to conserve the species.
“We want to encourage our visitors to respect and conserve this important species while visiting the Simon’s Town penguin colony,” Howard-Clayton said.
A marine biologist from the Cape Research Centre, Alison Kock, warned of two increasing worldwide dangers threatening the continued existence of the birds.
“The species is undergoing severe declines across South Africa due to food shortages as a result of climate change and overfishing.
"The Simon’s Town colony is one of only a few colonies in the country that has a stable population. We suspect this is due to increased food availability close to the colony.”
Howard-Clayton said a four-month-long research project that studied African penguins’ movements and feeding ecology was started during the penguins’ breeding season last June, in a collaboration between SANParks, Birdlife South Africa, Sanccob and UCT.
She said GPS loggers that had temporarily been attached to 12 adult African penguins showed that Simon’s Town penguins travelled as far as Kogel Bay, 37km east of their colony, using nearly the full extent of False Bay, with none recorded leaving the bay.
The research had highlighted the importance of False Bay for penguins needing to feed their chicks, said Howard-Clayton.
She said the project’s findings would assist scientists and managers in gaining better insight into the types of fish the African Penguins eat. Such information would help to manage fish stocks more sustainably and determine the penguins’ hunting areas.
“By knowing where they go, potential threats - like pollution or illegal fishing - can be identified. We urge visitors to respect penguins and give them the space they need while visiting their natural habitat,” said Howard-Clayton.