A South African court has ordered a decade-long ban on commercial fishing around key breeding colonies of the African penguin, a species facing extinction due to dwindling food supplies.
The Pretoria High Court ruling prohibits sardine and anchovy fishing in waters surrounding six critical breeding sites, including Robben Island—best known as the former prison site of Nelson Mandela—Dassen Island, and the Stony Point nature reserve.
Conservation Victory
Bird conservation groups, including BirdLife South Africa, hailed the decision as a major step in preventing the collapse of the species. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classified the African penguin as critically endangered in October 2024, warning that if current trends continue, the species could vanish from the wild by 2035.
Experts attribute the sharp decline in penguin numbers to habitat disturbances, oil spills, and food shortages. When deprived of their primary diet of sardines and anchovies, penguins often abandon breeding, accelerating population decline.
According to BirdLife South Africa, the number of breeding pairs dropped from over 15,100 in 2018 to around 8,750 by the end of 2023.
Tuesday’s court order gives the environment minister two weeks to enforce the fishing restrictions at the designated sites.