Penguins on the precipice: Survival in the ‘noisiest bay in the world’

Bunkering in South Africa’s Algoa Bay has dramatically cut the number of birds in the former world’s largest colony by 90 percent.



African penguins gather at the end of the afternoon at Boulders Beach in Simon's Town, South Africa. The vulnerable species live in a penguin colony in False Bay which is part of Table Mountain National Park [Paula Bronstein/Getty]

By Nick Dall
Published On 1 Sep 2024
1 Sep 2024

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As we rounded the island, the huge Ngqura Port and its floating fuel stations came into view. In 2017, the practice of ship-to-ship bunkering (refuelling at sea) had only been going for one year. Back then, the biggest concern about bunkering was that it would result in oil spills. While there have been four spills – in 2016, 2019, 2021 and 2022 – some of which killed penguins, the noise caused by the bunkering activities is likely even more devastating to the birds.

“In a bid to avoid the noise, the penguins swim further, to less productive feeding grounds. This means they can’t build up enough reserves to survive the moult, when they have to fast for three weeks,” explains Lorien Pichegru, an adjunct professor at Nelson Mandela University, who has been studying the penguins on St Croix since 2008.

Since 2017, largely due to ship-to-ship bunkering, the number of birds using St Croix each season has dropped by 90 percent. Put another way, in the years since then, St Croix has gone from being the world’s largest African penguin colony to being one of the smallest.

“The island looks completely different these days,” says Pichegru. “It’s not just empty, it’s also covered with plants. Penguins use all sorts of material to make their nests, so on this bare rock island, plants were luxury they were fighting for. Now there are no penguins and the plants have made a comeback.”

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