World Penguin Day on 25 April 2025 is a particularly auspicious event for the African Penguin. One of 18 penguin species across the globe, the African Penguin has the dubious distinction of being the most endangered.
As the only penguin species in Africa, and only found in South Africa and Namibia, it would be a particularly poor reflection on our ability to protect this iconic species if it were the first penguin in the world to go extinct in the wild.
At the current rate of population decline, African Penguins have only about 10 years left.
However, it’s the first World Penguin Day that is being celebrated after a significant conservation milestone, achieved earlier this year, that gives the African Penguin a glimmer of hope.
Light on the horizon
As those who have been following recent developments in the news may be aware, African Penguins were recently thrown a lifeline in the form of a Court Order enforcing reconfigured no-take zones around six key colonies along the South African coast.
The zones overlap with the core foraging grounds for African Penguins, which prey primarily on sardines and anchovies. The aim is to reduce competition with the commercial fisheries that also target the same resource. Since 21 March 2025, these no-take zones have been stipulated in the conditions of the ‘purse seine’ fishing permits.
The netting of masses of these small pelagic fish is now prohibited in the vicinity of Dassen Island, Robben Island, Dyer Island, Stony Point, and St Croix and Bird Islands in Algoa Bay. The prohibition will be in place for 10 years, and although there are no guarantees that this intervention will reverse the freefall of the African Penguin population, it will give them a fighting chance to recover.
One step at a time
Determining whether the no-take zones are significant in the African Penguins’ struggle for survival depends on close and constant monitoring. BirdLife South Africa and its partners, which include SANCCOB, are using an Automated Penguin Monitoring System (APMS) at the most important penguin colonies.
These comprise cleverly engineered weighbridges which are remotely monitored. Years of experience working in penguin colonies allows researchers to determine where penguins are most likely to launch from their island or shore-based habitat, and this knowledge has guided the location and installation of digital weighbridges (disguised as stepping stones) along the penguins’ route from land to water and back.
A Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) reader in the weighbridge identifies individual penguins through microchips (Passive Integrated Transmitter tags) inserted harmlessly under a penguin’s skin on their leg.
The resultant data allows BirdLife South Africa’s scientists to monitor the penguins’ weight before and after their fishing excursions.
This provides valuable data on the weight of individual penguins, but the weights of untagged penguins are also useful in calculating the average weight of penguins in the colony. Weight data indicates whether the penguins are managing to find sufficient food to sustain themselves and their chicks, who depend on their parents for sustenance.
‘Weight’ for it!
A wonderful advantage of the APMS is that the public can observe the penguins as they set out on their foraging trips. Cameras at one of the four colonies where the monitoring systems are operating provide live feeds to the Penguin Alert website. In addition to enjoying the sight of these delightful birds as they hop-skip-jump, or just waddle their way to their fishing grounds, penguin enthusiasts can also learn more about this fascinating species.
The website provides key facts and information, plots the weights of the birds, and shows the trends of weight gain and loss, which is more than your average scale at the gym can do!
Happy World Penguin Day!
* BirdLife South Africa is a registered non-profit, public benefit organisation dedicated to bird conservation in South Africa.