African penguin faces extinction despite new protections

Africanews (in English)

African penguin faces extinction despite new protections  Experts say stricter fishing limits will be crucial if Africa’s only penguin is to survive. For now, conservationists hope the legal victory will buy precious time to keep the species from disappearing forever.  READ MORE : http://www.africanews.com/2025/10/03/african-penguin-faces-extinction-despite-new-protections  Subscribe on our Dailymotion channel and receive all the latest news from the continent.    Africanews is available in English and French.  Website : www.africanews.com  Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/africanews.channel/  Twitter : https://twitter.com/africanews

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00:00The African penguin, once numbering in the millions, has now dwindled to fewer than 9,900 breeding pairs,

00:07raising fears it could vanish within a decade.

00:10Conservationists warn that overfishing of sardines and anchovies,

00:15combined with habitat loss and predators, is driving the species towards extinction.

00:20At Stoning Point, colony near Cape Town, researchers are working to boost survival by using artificial nests.

00:28Artificial nests are used to lessen the environmental exposure to the penguins when they are breeding,

00:34so also it would be severe weather conditions, and also to protect them from predators,

00:40so then they are less exposed to the outside, and then it also helps with breeding and protecting the chicks and eggs.

00:48A landmark court ruling this year forced South Africa's government to establish no fishing zones near key colonies,

00:56reducing competition for food during the breeding season.

01:00These closures are beneficial, absolutely, because when penguins are breeding,

01:05they are not able to swim further than 20 to 30 kilometers generally,

01:10and then they have to get back to their colony to provision for their chicks.

01:15Beyond those closures is the problem, and once juveniles fledged the colony,

01:24they go off and they travel large distances where they need to find food,

01:29and bearing in mind that the juveniles are obviously inexperienced and not very good hunters when they first enter the ocean,

01:37the survival is less than 50%.

01:41And so if there is less food availability, you can only imagine how difficult that is.

01:49For now, conservationists hope the legal victory would buy precious time to keep the species from disappearing forever.

01:59For now!

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