In a landmark move expected to save the endangered African penguin, South Africa’s High Court has ordered no-fishing zones around six key breeding colonies for the next decade. The order will protect vital sardine and anchovy stocks, the penguins’ primary food source, from fishing vessels. The decision follows an out-of-court settlement between conservation groups, the fishing industry, and the ministry in charge of fishing. The conservation groups had taken the ministry to court after it failed to implement key recommendations of a scientific panel employed to assess the extinction risk level of the penguins. With the penguin population dropping from 15,000 in 2018 to under 9,000 in 2023, the Biodiversity Law Center, which represented the groups, believes the species could go extinct as soon as 2035.
Source: BBC
