Minister seeks legal solution in case of South Africa's endangered penguins | South Africa

South Africa's new environment minister has declared that he wants to prevent the extinction of the African penguins and, among other things, settle a lawsuit brought by two environmental organizations that are calling for a ban on fishing around the large colonies of African penguins.

BirdLife South Africa and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCOB) said they wanted an extension of the no-fishing zones around six beaches and islands where the penguins breed after failing to reach an agreement with fishing industry associations called for by the previous minister.

African penguins face extinction by 2035 if their population continues to decline at the current rate of 7.9% per year. A century ago, there were as many as 1 million breeding pairs. Today, there are fewer than 10,000.

Dion George, who became environment minister in early July as part of a new coalition government, said: “My goal is to ensure that penguins do not go extinct and I think everyone has that goal in mind.”

“I see no benefit for the penguins if lawyers fight in court, possibly for [a] long [time]”, he said.

Environmentalists and fishing groups have been engaged in an out-of-court dispute for years. Among other things, they disagree about the extent to which the commercial fishing of the sardines and anchovies that the penguins eat is causing the decline in the bird population and to what extent an extension of the no-fishing zones would halt this decline.

Successive governments have failed to persuade the two sides to compromise between the losses to the fishing industry and its livelihoods on the one hand and the protection of the penguins on the other. Without an agreement, they have also been unwilling to implement the more drastic protection measures that environmentalists say are necessary.

Alistair McInnes, head of seabird conservation at BirdLife South Africa, said: “When these populations reach such vulnerable levels and start to decline, they actually become more sensitive to other random influences.”

“For example, if there is an outbreak of disease or [oil spill] out at sea, a disproportionately large part of this colony will be affected,” he said. “So the sooner we put these protections in place, the better the chances that the penguins will be able to maintain their population size now and in the future. [have a] buffer [against] other random events.”

To end the debate, the government launched an “island closure experiment” in 2008. The waters around four islands were closed to sardine and anchovy fishing for alternating three-year periods.

But after more than 50 hours of discussing the data between two rival groups of scientists, there was still no agreement. At the end of 2022, then Environment Minister Barbara Creecy convened a panel of international experts to break the deadlock.

Their report, published in July 2023, said that while a fishing ban around breeding colonies would benefit penguin conservation, the benefit would be “small”. Fishing alone cannot stop the further decline of the penguin population, it was concluded.

Creecy said she would impose fishing bans around the colonies, but only if conservationists and the fishing industry agreed. Partial bans have been in place ever since, which the two charities say are “biologically pointless.” This prompted them to file their lawsuit, which names Creecy, two of her colleagues and two fishing industry groups as defendants. The lawsuit argues that the minister is legally required to enforce the wider restrictions.

“Contrary to statements by environmental NGOs in the media that the main driver is purse seine fishing, the impacts of fishing are [on penguin numbers] “is small,” one of the respondents, the South African Pelagic Fishing Industry Association, told the Guardian earlier this year.

“As an industry, we have a responsibility to take all appropriate measures to protect penguin populations,” it said in an email. The company is committed to “resolving the matter amicably.”

McInnes said the “small” impact of the fishing bans was nonetheless significant, pointing to other factors affecting the penguin population, from shipping noise to predators to the climate crisis. SAPFIA had previously said the NGOs had delayed a “process designed to identify the root causes of the penguin population decline”, which the NGOs' lawyer denied.

George said he had no opinion yet on the scientific or political aspects of the issue, but had requested a meeting with the fishing industry and environmental groups for next week. “Lines have been drawn and [there are] self-interest,” he said. “But what does that mean for the penguins?”