Environmental Law Association of South Africa’s Post

HIGH COURT VICTORY FOR AFRICAN PENGUINS! 🐧 BirdLife South Africa and Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), represented by the Biodiversity Law Centre, today secured a historic victory for South Africa’s Critically Endangered African Penguin when a hard-won settlement agreement – reached by the conservation NGOs with commercial sardine and anchovy purse-seine fishers – was made an order of the Pretoria High Court. 🐧 The court order provides for the delineations of no-take zones – for the next ten years – for the commercial sardine and anchovy fishery around six key African Penguin breeding colonies that lie within coastal areas where this commercial fishery operates. Six closures work together to secure biologically meaningful foraging areas for African Penguins in each of the west coast, southern Cape and Algoa Bay regions to help bring the species back from the brink of extinction. 🐧 The imposition of scientifically-informed fishing closures, to limit commercial purse-seine anchovy and sardine fishing activities around key African Penguin breeding colonies, is a long-overdue step towards securing their survival in the wild. 🐧 We look to the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment and the Minister to ensure full implementation of this order, and to follow-through on taking all necessary steps to protect the African Penguin. Doing so is not only important for the wellbeing and survival of this iconic species but is critical to ensure that our ocean ecosystem is protected for the benefit of future generations. #lawfornature #conservation #litigation https://lnkd.in/dn_hTBCW