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thumbnailConservationists and Authorities work together towards the Declaration of Stony Point Seabird Colony as a Protected Area.
The Stony Point African penguin colony is the fastest growing African penguin colony in Southern Africa. The African penguin - as a species however - was listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as endangered in 2010 due to perpetual population declines.

A national Biodiversity Management Plan (BMP) for the African penguin species has been drafted by a number of organisations in response to these population declines under the auspices of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (No. 10 of 2004). The management plan has been through a full public commeting phase and is due to be Gazetted shortly by the Minister for Environmental Affairs.

While many of the African penguin colonies in South Africa continue to show population declines, the colony at Stony Point continues to increase - and this colony is therefore a high priority for conservation authorities. The formal protection of the Stony Point African penguin colony is therefore listed as a necessary action in the BMP.

While the population increase at Stony Point is received with excitement by conservation authorities, it has posed a few local problems. The arrival of the penguins in the tiny hamlet of Betty’s Bay in 1982 and the subsequent healthy growth of the colony, has presented the Overstrand Municipality with a new dynamic – the co-existence of the Betty’s Bay residents with this charismatic, yet endangered species. The penguins have gradually been encroaching on the residential area, where attacks from dogs, cats and other land based predators have been recorded, whilst other disturbance factors create a source of stress for the breeding birds and their chicks.

Overstrand Municipality has extended an existing fence boundary fence which was initially authorised by the Department of Environmental, Cultural Affairs and Sport (DECAS) in 2002. The purpose of the new fence extension was twofold - to create a demarcated breeding area for the penguins, remote from the hazards experienced in the residential area and to reduce the degree of human- wildlife conflict that was becoming unbearable for neighbours in the residential area. The fencing project was supported by an Environmental Authorisation from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning (2012) as a component of an application to amend an existing environmental authorisation for the upgrading of Tourism facilities at Stony Point, which has been pending since 2008. The resolution of the penguin invasion in the residential area by means of a boundary fence was raised as in imperative during the public participation phase of this project and the initiative was fully supported by Cape Nature.

The construction of the fence was by no means a proverbial ‘walk in the park’. Plans for the fence were compiled two months in advance of the initiation date, but the non-delivery of certain fencing materials delayed the start of the project. The project was further delayed by the presence of hidden heritage foundations and a very rocky substrate, which had to be circumvented. The fence was finally completed at the end of February 2013. During February 2012, penguins had started to access the residential area. These birds were relocated to the fenced portion of the property.A total of 11 penguin eggs wereremoved from the residential area and sent to SANCCOB’s Chick Rearing Unit for hatching, raising and release. Ongoing checks are made within the residential area as birds move around the fence. These birds are relocated back into the protected area of the colony and encouraged to breed there. This activity will continue as new birds visit the colony.

Additional habitat has been created for the relocated birds through the deployment of Artificial penguin houses donated by the Dyer Island Conservation Trust and nests from the Leiden Conservation Foundation.Many of these nests have already been occupied, with birds incubating eggs. The Leiden Conservation Foudation, a US based funder, has also made funds available to support the ecological monitoring of this colony, indicating the international interest and support that this colony is drawing.

The construction of a fence to reduce disurbance to African penguins is not an activity unique to Betty’s Bay. The City of Cape Town, in partnership with SANParks and SANCCOB have constructed a fence at Burgher’s Walk, a municipal area colonised by African penguin adjacent to Boulders. Since the construction of this fence and associated habitat restoration in 2011, the number of African penguins killed by vehicles has declined substantially, and the proportion of Simons Town African penguins breeding at Burgher’s Walk increased from 9% in 2011 to 18% in 2012.

CapeNature will continue to monitor this colony, with a research and monitoring programme in place that includes the assessment of the bird’s population growth, breeding success, foraging behaviour and chick condition.

The future management of Stony Point is being driven forward by a Management Committee which consist mainly of Overstrand Municipality and Cape Nature as well as partners such as SANCCOB. This management committee is in the process of drafting a management plan for the entire property and will engage in the process to have the area declared as an officially Protected Area according to the Protected Areas Act (2003).