Temporary moratorium on bunkering sparks hope for African penguin recovery

Al Jazeera highlights that the African penguin, an endangered species unique to the coasts of Namibia and South Africa, faces an alarming crisis.  

When I first visited St Croix Island in 2017, it was home to roughly 6,000 breeding pairs of African penguins, representing 35 percent of the global population of this endangered species.

On a serene September morning, we sped across Algoa Bay on South Africa’s east coast, passing a dirty cargo ship and the prominent Nelson Mandela Bay football stadium, before anchoring near St Croix. 

The boat swayed with each wave crashing against the small, rugged island that has historically been a graveyard for ships.   Despite its harsh, sun-scorched appearance, the island was a thriving haven for birds. Penguins, standing knee-high, gathered above the high-water line, while a solitary gull rested on a replica of the cross planted by Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias in 1488.

As we circled the island, the expansive Ngqura Port and its floating fuel stations came into view. In 2017, ship-to-ship bunkering—refueling vessels at sea—had recently started. The primary concern then was the potential for oil spills, and indeed, spills occurred in 2016, 2019, 2021, and 2022, some resulting in penguin fatalities. However, it is the noise from these bunkering operations that may be even more harmful to the penguins.   According to Lorien Pichegru, an adjunct professor at Nelson Mandela University who has been researching the penguins on St Croix since 2008, the noise forces the penguins to swim farther to find food, leading them to less productive feeding areas. This lack of nourishment can jeopardize their survival during the critical moulting period, when they must fast for three weeks.

Since 2017, the number of birds visiting St Croix Island each season has plummeted by 90 percent, largely due to ship-to-ship bunkering. This dramatic decline has transformed St Croix from the largest African penguin colony in the world into one of the smallest.   “The island has changed drastically,” notes Pichegru. “It’s not just empty; it’s now overrun with plants. Penguins used to struggle for nesting materials on this barren rock, but now, with their absence, vegetation has taken over.”   Pichegru advocates for a ban on bunkering, arguing that it allows ships to avoid port fees, creating a “cheap refueling loophole” that costs the country tax revenue and causes severe environmental harm.  

However, there is hope for the St Croix colony’s revival. In October 2023, the licenses of all three bunkering companies were suspended due to tax issues. Since the cessation of bunkering, the penguin population has shown signs of recovery. In the 2023 breeding season, while bunkering was still ongoing, around 700 breeding pairs were recorded on the island. With bunkering suspended, that number has surged to nearly 1,350 pairs this year.  

Yet, this respite may be temporary. In February, the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) announced it would process new bunkering applications promptly. While bunkering has not yet resumed, the conservation community is already advocating with the government about a legal loophole that permits applications to be approved without adequate environmental assessments, according to Kate Handley, Executive Director of the Biodiversity Law Centre. The bigger picture The plight of African penguins extends beyond St Croix Island, affecting the entire species, which is the only penguin species native to Africa.  

In the early 1900s, the population of African penguins along the coasts of Namibia and South Africa was estimated between 1.5 million and 3 million birds. Today, that number has dwindled to just 9,900 breeding pairs—a staggering 99 percent decrease over 120 years, according to Alistair McInnes, who leads the Seabird Conservation program at BirdLife South Africa.

At the current annual decline rate of 7.9 percent, African penguins could be extinct in the wild by 2035.   While bunkering is a significant threat, it’s not the sole issue facing these penguins. Historical guano collection, which began in the 1840s, severely impacted seabird colonies globally. Dyer Island, once home to over a million African penguins nesting in layers of guano up to 6 meters thick, now hosts only 2,040 pairs as of the 2023 breeding season.  

Additionally, from 1920 to 1950, human consumption of penguin eggs—once served on the Titanic and in South Africa’s parliament—reduced the population further, with about 48 percent of eggs being harvested.   In recent years, overfishing of their primary prey, such as sardines and anchovies, combined with climate change-induced habitat loss and breeding challenges, has compounded their struggle. The number of breeding pairs fell from around 43,000 in 1999 to 17,200 by 2016, and has since halved.   In a bid to rescue the species, BirdLife South Africa and SANCCOB, a South African NGO dedicated to seabird conservation, have taken legal action against the South African Minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment.

They are demanding the implementation of effective fishing closures around six key penguin colonies, including St Croix, which collectively support 76 percent of the global African penguin population.