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Experts fear that the Humboldt penguins’ days are numbered. Although, in recent weeks the media has pointed out climate change as the culprit for the loss of biodiversity, they warn that this is only half true. This population—which is concentrated only on the coasts of Peru and the islands of Chile—has been declining since the 1970s, but this fall has not been worse than previous ones, nor is warming the reason. At least not the only one. “The path to extinction exists and has high probabilities,” says Dr. Alejandro Simeone, one of the greatest experts on penguins in the world. “But more than talking about warming or invasive species, we have to talk about what is happening in fisheries.”
Paulina Arce, coordinator of the management plan for Pájaro Niño Island in Algarrobo, has been studying this species of small penguins with a black stripe on their chest for more than two decades and periodically visiting the main nesting sites in Chile. For her, the fact that they suddenly occupy so much space in the media produces a bittersweet feeling. “We have been documenting for years how the main threat is fishing. First because of overfishing, and second because of the lack of fishing, and third … [que compite con los alimentos del pingüino] and secondly, because they get caught in nets. It is a mistake to think that it is only because of global warming,” says the expert. “Climate change can intensify some conditions with rising sea levels, but it is secondary. They die from lack of food and fishing nets.” One third of the world’s seabirds die from interactions with fisheries.
But the alarms went off with one piece of information. As reported by experts in the fall of 2023, a population census of this species on two islands off the central coast of Chile found 842 breeding pairs or active nests. In a subsequent census, just a month ago, they only found one couple. “The media came to call the situation ‘apocalyptic’. And they only pointed to warming and the effects of El Niño,” explains Simeone. “But this has been happening for thousands of years. It’s not something new. There were exactly the same cycles in 1997 and 1998, in which during that year they did not reproduce and the following spring there was a nesting festival,” he says.
Humboldt penguins have two breeding peaks, in spring and autumn. At each nesting, these seabirds lay two eggs, of which only one usually survives. When these animals do not have enough food or sense that they will not have it, they stop reproducing. But records have shown how the years following these periods of very low birth rates often translate into great reproductive booms that even make both eggs survive in the same nesting. “Nature has always found a way to self-regulate and it does not have to be different now. If these data remain like this in spring, it is worth worrying more. Not for now,” concludes the Chilean.
23,800 mature individuals
This species is listed on the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as “vulnerable”. A census of Chile carried out in the spring of 2017 suggests that this country maintains a population of 5,100 breeding pairs, which is equivalent to 10,200 mature individuals, since for a nest to have the possibility of housing and carrying the egg it requires a father and mother in equal parts. If either of them dies it is very unlikely that the eggs will survive. The global estimate for 2017, taking into account the specimens in Peru, was equivalent to about 23,800 mature individuals. Current estimates point to being lower. And the institution estimates that between the next 30 and 80 years they will have disappeared if the trend does not change.
For the Chilean, the only way to reverse the situation is to monitor the fisheries. “The State has not done anything about it, nobody puts limits on them because it is one of the main economies of the country. There are no limits or protocols for when they accidentally catch a penguin,” she criticises. According to Arce, the focus is often wrongly placed on any other external factor that occurs on the islands, such as the presence of rats or bird flu. “What is killing the penguins happens on the high seas and has to do with humans.”
This is an idea shared by Simeone, who celebrates that progress has been made on “solid ground”, since the main nesting strongholds are in nature reserves and sufficient awareness has been created so that they are not hunted for human consumption. “But they get into the water and they are caught in nets or their food is taken away. We have to protect them there. Our fishing authorities know what there is and progress is being made, I’m not saying no. The problem is the speed at which progress is made; “The State works at a speed that is not consistent with the problems it is trying to solve,” he explains.
Although neither of the two experts wants to imagine a world without the presence of a seabird that they have been studying for decades, they know that it is very likely that it will be irremediable. Asked about the consequence of the disappearance, Arce lists the nutrients that would be lost. But she regrets that the extinction of these animals would never result in an overpopulation of sardines, anchovies or other fish: “Even if there are no penguins, there will still be fishing companies that take them all.”
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