African penguins are at risk of extinction due to noise pollution

Recently, a scientific study has shown that the already endangered African penguin species is being driven from its natural habitat off the east coast of South Africa due to noise from feeding. fuel on board.

African penguins are at risk of extinction due to noise pollution. (Photo: AP).

The number of African penguins on St Croix Island in the Gulf of Algoa, once the world's largest breeding flock, has plummeted since South Africa began allowing ships in the region to continue to feed, the study found. fuel at sea, a process known as bunkering, six years ago.

Located on a busy shipping route along South Africa's east coast, the Gulf of Algoa is teeming with marine life and birds, where whales from the south can roam the safe waters.

'We found that noise levels that were already high have now doubled,' said Ms. Lorien Pichegru, Acting Director of the Institute of Sea and Coastal Studies at Nelson Mandela University.

Scientists have found that elevated noise levels affect the marine animals' ability to find and catch prey, communicate or navigate properly.

Ms Pichegru said: 'This year we only had 1,200 pairs of penguins breeding in St Croix (in 2016 there were 8,500 pairs), a decrease of almost 85% since the breeding began in South Africa. I can count the birds that die every month on the beach of the bay."

The new study, published August 10 in the peer-reviewed journal "Science of the Total Environment," is the first to explore the effects of marine traffic noise pollution on a single species of bird. marine and the consequences of offshore tunneling operations on underwater noise levels.

The Nelson Mandela University study used vessel identifier data to estimate underwater noise from ships as a proxy for ambient underwater noise in the area.

In 2019, oiled penguins were found in the Gulf of Algoa after oil spilled from ship-to-ship shelters and conservationists have called for a ban on fish farming in the bay.

Ms Pichegru said penguins in the St Croix Islands have struggled to breed due to many challenges, including industrial fishing for scarce prey.

'Bunking doesn't kill all the penguins, it just causes the whole ecosystem to collapse and then the penguins can't adapt to that,' Ms Pichegru said.