Oil pollution identified as the biggest manmade cause of penguin deaths worldwide
Penguin species are increasingly threatened by of a combination of manmade factors, including climate change and overfishing, a new study has found.
The report, published in journal Conservation Biology, has examined how the marine species and communities might be at risk of decline or extinction in the southern hemisphere. “We chose penguins as our model taxonomic group because their ecology and life history is well known. Their conservation status and threats have recently been reviewed,” said the report.
In 2013, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) had listed 11 of the 18 penguin species as “threatened” and another two as “near threatened”.
While some are suffering because of food scarcity arising from competition in the fishing industry, many are being caught accidentally in fishing nets. “Fisheries are a major threat to penguins primarily because of associated incidental mortality and resource competition where fishers and penguins target same species,” said the study.
Though various forms of pollution, habitat degradation and the impacts of climate change have been considered as significant threats, oil pollution has been identified as the biggest manmade cause of penguin deaths worldwide.
Can we save penguins?
The study has put forward several ways that penguins might be protected, including the enforcement of new marine protected areas. These include the strategic spacing of fisheries and shipping lanes, and the introduction of rules that would limit the amount of fish that fisherman can catch.
Dr Phil Trathan, lead author of the study and head of conservation biology at the British Antarctic Survey, said: "Whilst is possible to implement large-scale conservation reserves, it is not always practical.”
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