Bunkering in Penguin Feeding Hotspot
By Lloyd Edwards

1. News

Co-operative group foraging of African Penguins in Algoa Bay has been documented by Profs Ryan and Pichegru using images taken by myself during our marine eco-cruises. It was argued that if penguins benefit from group foraging, then a decrease in the population would affect this. If the colonies became too small, as is the case at present, then there would not be enough birds to support sufficient densities for this to take place.

It was amazing then to see Penguin bait-balls back in Algoa Bay recently. From previous research it was found that 25 to 165 birds were needed to form co-operative group foraging aggregations. The most we counted on our recent observations were 91 individuals. Although it was great to see, the problem was that this was taking place right in the middle of the ship to ship (bunkering) fuel transfers.

There is no doubt that if an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) had been done prior to Bunkering, it would never have been allowed in this area. In the 25 years I have been running Raggy Charters Penguin Island tours, this area has always been a feeding hotspot for African Penguins, other diving birds, Bryde’s whales and Common dolphins. Now we have Bunkering taking place right in the very area where the penguins rely on building up their fat reserves for breeding! The noise pollution and the accumulation of toxins has already been flagged as a serious threat to the well being of marine life in our bay. Further pressure on the penguin colony is being caused by the decreasing amount of bait-fish due to overfishing of the sardine and anchovy stocks in close proximity to St Croix island. We are still awaiting a decision from the Minister to ban fishing within 20km of all the breeding islands in South Africa, as a precautionary measure to help the penguins. The debate has now been raging for 15 years, with no decision in sight as yet.

As can be seen in the attached images, a large number of other diving birds may disrupt the co-operative foraging ability of the penguins. These include Cape gannets, Cape cormorants, various tern species, shearwaters and gulls. Besides their disruptive behaviour, they clearly benefit from the penguins keeping the fish stationary and within reach. Bryde’s whale were also hanging around the area waiting for their chance to lunge feed on what was left of the bait-ball.  

Read more about the Algoa Baywatch Bunkering Project

Taken with a Nikon D810, ISO 220, zoom 200mm, f/8 and 1/800th second. While some of the penguins are seen above the water, the rest are corralling the fish below the surface.

A tern swoops down on the bait-ball which according to some scientists could be anchovies.

Cape gannets live up to their name by gulping down as many of the fish as possible!

Some of the terns manage to get up to three fish at a time in their bills.

A sooty shearwater in the front left of the image awaits it's turn at the ball.

It is very important to photograph the aftermath of a co-operative group feeding activity so we can count how many penguins participated. Note the two MSC container vessel awaiting fuel transfers. We could hear the generators running, imagine what it sounded like under the water!