Email the Minister

Contact Dr Dion George, South Africa’s Minister of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment, urging action for African Penguins. Your voice holds weight in influencing policies crucial for the future of these distinct birds. Express your fervor for African penguins and tell him how significant these penguins are for you or your community.

Together, let's advocate for the protection of African penguins, regardless of our geographical location.

Thank you for your commitment to standing up for these remarkable creatures!

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Dear Minister George, The African penguins are now only about 116 months away from being extinct in the wild. As you’ll know, even though you were able to help secure full or partial fishing closures for six of the 16 colonies, African penguins are still listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN. In just fourteen years they have gone from Vulnerable to Endangered to Critically Endangered! Their numbers dropped 16% from 2022 at 10,400 breeding pairs to about 8,750 breeding pairs in 2023. I support the #NotOnOurWatch (#NOOW) African penguin survival campaign and SANCCOB and BirdLife SA in their efforts to save African penguins. I’d like South Africa to urgently put more measures in place to secure a future for the African penguin. As you know, unless action is taken now, our children and grandchildren are unlikely to see an African penguin in the wild because they’re on track to be functionally extinct by 2035. These are the measures I would like to see: 1) If you can secure the permanent closure of fishing access to areas around more African penguin colonies, it would be an important step in protecting this iconic species. 2) Please ban ship-to-ship bunkering in Algoa Bay and anywhere near colonies – the noise has a direct impact on population numbers, and the potential for oil spills is high. 3) Please implement better management of Marine Protected Areas so that penguins can breed in peace. 4) Please ensure your agencies prioritise penguin conservation within their respective mandates and ensure that all role players work together to implement the current Biodiversity Management Plan. 5) Please urgently negotiate with the South African National Defence Force to stop the SA Navy from using live ammunition and explosives in False Bay near the penguins or in any other areas where colonies exist. 6) Please support your Department’s initiative to explore the most urgent causes of the penguin decline, colony by colony.  The truth is that through tourism, many South Africans rely on the African penguin for their income – so saving the penguin is helping people too. Pictures of these iconic birds are all over Cape Town, welcoming visitors. A 2018 study showed that Boulders Beach alone would be worth almost R7 billion to the city’s economy over three decades – imagine the pain of seeing empty beaches, the images being taken down, the economic hardship that would ensue and the embarrassment of all South Africans if we can’t save them. The future of the African penguin depends on taking urgent conservation action now. Together with people from around the world, I’m asking you to please urgently consider taking more of the steps required to guarantee the survival of our beloved penguins. For the benefit of all. Thank you.

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