"More than 60,000 penguins in colonies off the coast of South Africa have starved to death as a result of disappearing sardines, a new paper has found. More than 95% of the African penguins in two of the most important breeding colonies, on Dassen Island and Robben Island, died between 2004 and 2012. The breeding penguins probably starved to death during the moulting period, according to the paper, which said the climate crisis and overfishing were driving declines."
"African penguins shed and replace their worn-out feathers every year to protect their insulation and waterproofing. However, during the moulting period, which takes about 21 days, they have to stay on land. To survive this fasting period, they need to fatten up beforehand. If food is too hard to find before they moult or immediately afterwards, they will have insufficient reserves to survive the fast, said Sherley. We don't find large rafts of carcasses our sense is that they probably die at sea, he said."
"For every year except three since 2004, the biomass of the sardine species Sardinops sagax had fallen to 25% of its maximum abundance off the coast of western South Africa, the study found. The fish are a key food for African penguins. Changes in the temperature and salinity off the west coast of Africa have made the fishes' spawning less successful. Levels of fishing, however, have remained high in the region."
More than 60,000 African penguins starved off the coast of South Africa, with over 95% mortality at Dassen and Robben Islands between 2004 and 2012. Penguins likely died during the annual moulting fast when they must remain on land and depend on fat reserves. Sardinops sagax biomass fell to about 25% of its maximum in most years since 2004, reducing key prey availability. Ocean temperature and salinity changes have impaired sardine spawning while fishing pressure remained high. The species declined nearly 80% over 30 years, leaving fewer than 10,000 breeding pairs.
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