Mail & Guardian
Mail & Guardian

Fishing Closures

latest news & developments
New regulations are in place in a bid to protect the critically endangered African penguin from the harms caused by shipping. Photo: John Yeld
AFRICAN PENGUIN POPULATION

Fishing industry, NGOs unite to save critically endangered African penguins

African penguin conservation wins with new fishing exclusion zones around key breeding islands

  • Sheree Bega
4 min read
African penguins, endemic to Southern Africa, are one of the most threatened seabird species globally and they face the risk of extinction in the wild by 2035. Populations have shrunk by 90% in the past 70 years, dwindling to about 8 500 breeding pairs today.
AFRICAN PENGUIN

Conservationists fight for scientifically-informed fishing closures to ensure African penguin survival

The applicants argue that the forestry, fisheries and environment minister’s interim fishing closures are ‘biologically meaningless’

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
A group of African penguins are seen during a rehabilitation session in Cape Town, South Africa on March 22, 2022. African penguins, whose populations have fallen sharply in the last century, may become extinct in the next few decades, experts say. File photo by Murat Ozgur Guvendik/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
AFRICAN PENGUINS

Creecy hauled to court over ‘irrational’ closures around penguin colonies

The closures sound the ‘death knell’ for the seabirds

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
African penguins on Boulders beach, Simon’s Town. File photo
AFRICAN PENGUINS

Ten year fishing limit around African penguin colonies gets thumbs-up

A fishing association has said it is concerned about the endangered penguins, but that the limits on fishing must not threaten the industry

  • Sheree Bega
6 min read
AFRICAN PENGUINS

Fishing around penguin colonies to be limited for 10 years

But it is no ‘miracle intervention’ to save the imperilled seabirds, minister stresses

  • Sheree Bega
7 min read
Dassen Island Nature Reserve, South Africa, An island in the Atalntic Ocean, 10km west of Yzerfontein, north of Cape Town (Photo by Hoberman Collection/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
AFRICAN PENGUINS

Shut-down of fishing around African penguin breeding colonies is ‘too little, too late’

Halting fishing will be of little to no benefit to the penguins and fishers believe it will be a sad Christmas

  • Sheree Bega
8 min read