Are your anchovies killing Africa's penguins?
Which do you prefer, anchovies on your pizza or penguins in Africa?
Scientists are scrapping over reports this week that the population of Cape Town penguins 鈥� called 鈥渏ackass penguins鈥� for their donkey-like braying calls 鈥� have declined by 90 percent since 2004 along South Africa鈥檚 west coast, as a commercial fishing of sardines and anchovies has cut into their food source.
鈥淲hile scientists are busy arguing over the cause of their decline the penguins are dying,鈥� says aviculturalist Karen Anderson of the聽聽in an interview. 鈥淚t鈥檚 discouraging. It鈥檚 just sad.鈥�
This is not the first time this population of penguins has been imperiled.聽In June 2000, an聽ore carrier sank off South Africa's聽coast near Cape Town, dumping more than 1,300 tons of bunker oil on the penguin's rookeries, just as they were hatching and raising their young.聽Ms. Anderson was among those who responded to help rehabilitate this very same penguin population.
鈥淚 helped wash 19,000 birds back in 2000 and another 20,000 were moved while approximately 20,000 were unaffected,鈥� says Anderson. 鈥淵et today the reports are showing just half of those birds survived, just 40,000 birds are left there of that same population. It鈥檚 a shame and very discouraging because we worked so hard to save those penguins.鈥�
This week, scientists are locked in debate over what is behind the population鈥檚 decline, whether it's overfishing of the birds' food supply or an unknown cause.
According to Anderson, the world鈥檚 penguins overall are struggling in the face of manmade incursions, including oil spills, overfishing of sustenance fish, and, in the case of the African penguin, guano mining dating back to the 1800s.
鈥淏efore they figured out how to make chemical fertilizers people mined the penguin鈥檚 habitats for the guano,鈥� Anderson says. 鈥淭he guano trickles into the water to nourish the algae which feeds the fish that the penguins eat. You mess with the guano, you mess with the whole ecosystem for generations.鈥�
When penguins try and colonize new lands 鈥渢hey end up interacting with man鈥檚 environment, where dogs and other animals eat the birds and their young and they get hit by cars,鈥� Anderson says.
One answer, she says, in the short term 鈥渁s a boost to help them recover鈥� is for humans to help raise chicks and return them into the population.
For the bigger fix we may need to take our cue from the 2006 animated film 鈥溾�� in which commercial fishing threatened Antartica鈥檚 penguins with extinction and the world, seeing the amazing dancing birds, banded together to stop commercial fishing in their waters.
鈥淭hey probably need a Happy Feet solution, like in the kids movie, but I don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 going to happen,鈥� says聽, marine and wildlife biologist, in an interview. Mr. Galante has interacted with this particular population of penguins on various occasions. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think you鈥檙e going to convince South Africa to stop something that lucrative to its economy.鈥�
Anchovies and sardines, the primary food source for the penguins, have migrated south into cooler waters. The result is that the number of African penguins that feed on them has declined by 90 percent since 2004 along South Africa鈥檚 west coast.
Yet despite a ban on commercial fishing set up seven years ago in four key areas, the jury is still out on why the species has continued its decline.
Galante explains that anchovies don鈥檛 stay in one place so, 鈥淚t鈥檚 not a matter of where you鈥檙e fishing but how much you鈥檙e fishing that makes the difference.鈥�
鈥淭his is about the overall amount of sardines and anchovies left in the ocean overall because they travel all over the place and so saying you can鈥檛 fish them in these four or five spots doesn鈥檛 mean anything,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey pass right in front of the penguins. You can鈥檛 just say 鈥榙on鈥檛 fish in this pool, but you can fish in the next door pool,鈥� when the anchovies and sardines all share the same pool. Fish them all out of one and they鈥檙e not coming back to the other.鈥�
鈥淲e have to decide how much we want 鈥榚m,鈥� says Anderson of the penguins. 鈥淲e have to take a hard look at what we鈥檙e willing to sacrifice to keep these penguins alive.鈥�
