African penguin youth ambassadors fight for their survival
#NotOnOurWatch
Sophumelela Qoma and Keira King are no ordinary young women. They’ve already started conservation initiatives, spoken publicly about their passion for the ocean and led their peers to get involved in protecting marine resources. The #NotOnOurWatch African penguin survival campaign, backed by the Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation, is proud to introduce them as its Youth Ambassadors.If predictions about there being too few breeding pairs of African penguins in the wild by 2035 to ensure the species’ survival come to pass, the penguins will be extinct before Keira is 30. And Sophumelela and Keria’s time, passion and commitment will have been for nothing. But not on their watch is that going to happen.
The endemic African penguins, found only in South African and Namibia, are faced with multiple pressures that are cumulatively contributing to their decline. Historically, egg-harvesting and guano collection caused their colonies to shrink.
But the more recent decline has been attributed to food shortages caused by shifts in the distributions of their prey species; namely a significant drop in the numbers of anchovies and sardines in the sea and direct competition with fisheries for food.
Threats
A growing threat is the expansion of harbours and an increase in ship traffic. Another emerging threat for the African penguin is the ship-to-ship bunkering that enables vessels to refuel out at sea and increases the risks of oil spills – this has started in Algoa Bay, home to some large colonies, and is planned to expand to the West Coast. The destruction of the African penguin’s nesting habitat is also a concern.
“It’s because of these threats that I decided to raise money to rescue and rehabilitate African penguins this year,” says Keira who is 17 years old and last year embarked on a 7.5 km swim in freezing waters to support turtle conservation.
“I trained for three months on a prone board, which you have to paddle by hand, and then I paddled from Salmon Bay in Ballito to uShaka pier in Durban. It took me 7 hours and 20 minutes and I was really tired, but it was worth it. I’m now only about R6 000 away from reaching my target of raising R50 000 for African penguins at Sanccob.
“It will help, but to stop their extinction, people around the world will need to care enough to get involved and raise awareness and make sure that authorities step in to protect the species from all of the threats. As young people that’s the opportunity we have – we can save the African penguin and if we can do that, we can save the ocean.”
Massive decline
In just over 100 years, the African penguin population has declined by 99% to an estimated 10 400 breeding pairs in the wild.
Barbara Creecy, South Africa’s Minister of Fisheries, Forestry and the Environment has enacted some protections for the birds. But she can’t save them on her own.
“That’s why we started the #NotOnOurWatch campaign. It’s only by raising public awareness and encouraging the authorities in South Africa and around the world to make wise decisions for their survival that we’ll win this battle,” says Dr Judy Mann, President of the International Zoo Educators Association, Executive of Strategic Projects at Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation, and a founder of the #NOOW campaign.
“Anyone can help, starting today. Support and tag #NOOW in social media, follow Sophumelela and Keira, and join our worldwide waddle on 14 October. This global event has been endorsed by the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development as a Decade Activity. We’re partnering with zoos, aquariums, conservationists, animal lovers and concerned citizens across the world to pull off the biggest International African Penguin Awareness Day event yet. Please join us and our youth ambassadors.”