Specialists predict that South Africa’s penguins are worth one billion dollars.

The ongoing discussion about safeguarding South Africa’s critically endangered African Penguins from extinction is frequently perceived as a compromise between environmental and economic interests.

The pelagic fishing sector has resisted attempts by environmental organizations to broaden no-fishing boundaries around African Penguin habitats. The industry claims to provide approximately 5,100 jobs and injects R5.5 billion into the economy each year.

However, the economic significance of penguin colonies cannot be overlooked, as indicated by a recent report from Anchor Environmental Consultants. The study estimates the value of South Africa’s penguin colonies at R2 billion to R4.5 billion in 2023, with an estimated 1,046 to 4,611 jobs tied to these colonies.

This valuation considers various factors, including tourism, property benefits, educational and media-related benefits, as well as the intrinsic value that people derive from the knowledge that these environmental resources exist, regardless of direct interaction.

The researchers evaluated general tourism revenue data from the Western Cape, analyzed visitor trends to the Simon’s Town colony for 25 years, and examined spending behaviors. Interviews with Capetonians assessed their perceived worth of penguins, and online surveys of publicly available photographs were conducted.

In October of the previous year, the African Penguin, found solely along the South African and Namibian coastlines, became the first among the world’s 18 penguin species to be classified as critically endangered. Over the last two decades, the African Penguin population has plummeted so drastically that without effective protective measures, it could face extinction within a decade.

The report by Anchor was commissioned by the Endangered Wildlife Trust and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE). Its authors, Johanna Brühl and Jane Turpie, contend that the extinction of the African Penguin would pose a significant reputational threat to South Africa, whose global image relies on environmental responsibility and the protection of its natural assets.

The potential extinction of the African penguin would adversely affect South Africa’s image as an environmentally sound destination renowned for its natural resources.

The report emphasizes that effective conservation of African Penguins requires more than just closures of islands; it calls for enhanced ocean health management through a holistic approach to fisheries that considers the entire ecosystem, as the extinction of penguins may lead to unpredictable ecological consequences.

Growth Potential

The report highlights that penguin-related tourism benefits have thus far mainly concentrated around the two land colonies located in the Western Cape, with the majority of the benefits stemming from Simon’s Town. According to penguin researcher Lorien Pichegru of Nelson Mandela University, Bird Island in Algoa Bay harbors significant yet underutilized tourism potential.

The surge in penguin tourism is reflected in the increasing visitor numbers to the Simon’s Town colony, which rose threefold to nearly 800,000 between 1995 and 2019. Notably, the percentage of international visitors during this timeframe doubled from 44% to 88%, indicating promising prospects for further growth in this industry.

“As South Africa gains popularity as a travel destination, the economic value of penguins to the South African economy becomes increasingly crucial,” Brühl remarks.

The two mainland penguin colonies—located in Simon’s Town and Betty’s Bay—are among the very few places globally outside of Antarctica where tourists can visit a breeding penguin colony without having to travel to an island.

The Simon’s Town colony significantly enhances Cape Town’s attractiveness as a tourist destination, ranking fifth among the top visitor attractions in the area, following Table Mountain, the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway, the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, and Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. In a smaller context, the Stony Point colony is recognized as the top visitor attraction in Betty’s Bay.

Reasons for Penguin Decline

In the 1950s, the African penguin population was around 300,000, but by the turn of the century, this figure had plummeted to only 50,000 breeding pairs. As of 2023, there were just 8,324 breeding pairs remaining. Various human-related activities underlie this decline, including oil spills, the cessation of seal culling (as seals are major predators of penguins and compete with them for food), and the expansion of the pelagic fishing industry, which has put humans in direct competition with seabirds for anchovies and pilchards.

Both anchovies and pilchards naturally fluctuate in population sizes, directly impacting penguin population trends.

Additionally, climate change exacerbates pre-existing human-induced causes of species declines. Environmental shifts have driven pilchard populations to migrate 400 kilometers to the south-east, reducing accessibility for four breeding seabird species.

Much of the pilchard, deemed essential for adult penguin survival, has become less accessible, as it is now positioned too far from breeding colonies.

The number of breeding African penguins dwindled by half from 2001 to 2003 in the Eastern Cape and from 2004 to 2006 in the Western Cape, with a continuous decline observed since then.

This decline has also impacted the pelagic fishing industry, which has had to invest in larger vessels equipped with enhanced refrigeration systems to cover longer distances. In 2007, a new canning facility was established in Mossel Bay, nearer to the new hub of pilchard distribution.

Pilchards are canned for human consumption and serve as an inexpensive protein source in southern Africa, while local anchovies are too small for direct human consumption and are processed into fish meal and oil, exported primarily for aquaculture of farmed salmon and shrimp. This conversion is ecologically inefficient, as approximately only 10% of energy is conserved at each trophic level in a food chain.

Fishing Restrictions

In 2008, the government decided to experimentally close fishing zones surrounding certain islands where penguins breed, but this initiative failed to halt their decline. In the Western Cape, penguin populations have continued to decrease by 1.5% annually over the past decade.

In the Eastern Cape, the decline has exacerbated significantly over the same period, averaging at 13% annually, which can be attributed to the introduction of bunkering (ship-to-ship oil transfers outside harbors) in 2016 and rising vessel traffic. The noise from both activities seems to disrupt penguins’ foraging abilities, while the former also carries the added risk of oil spills.

Bunkering was temporarily halted by SARS in 2023 due to tax discrepancies involving the companies engaged, and during the subsequent breeding season, the penguin population at St Croix Island showed an increase for the first time in a decade. However, earlier this year, a license was granted to a new company, which resumed bunkering in February, as reported by Pichegru.

A recent study has indicated that the current no-take zones implemented by the government offer minimal benefits to penguins, with the exception of Bird Island, and impose very little cost to the fishing sector. Last year, two seabird conservation organizations, BirdLife South Africa and the South African National Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), took legal action against the government and fishing industry to advocate for the enlargement of existing no-take zones.

On Wednesday, environment minister Dion George announced a settlement had been reached regarding closures at six penguin islands.

The settlement follows the recommendations of an expert panel appointed by former environment minister Barbara Creecy. The panel suggested that the trade-offs between the costs and benefits of island closures be assessed on an island-by-island basis rather than a national level.

The panel concluded that the costs to the fishing sector and benefits to penguins associated with island closures differ greatly from island to island and across different sectors within the fishing industry.

The extent to which the new measures will enhance penguin survival remains to be seen. Pichegru notes that although the new closures are long overdue, they could significantly improve penguin survival outcomes.

© 2025 GroundUp. This article was first published here.

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