The already endangered African penguin is being driven away from its natural habitat off the east coast of South Africa due to noise from ship refuelling, a scientific study has found.
The number of African penguins on St Croix island in Algoa Bay, once the world's largest breeding colony of the birds, has plummeted since South Africa started to allow ships in the area to refuel at sea, a process known as bunkering, six years ago, the study found.
"This year we are at 1,200 breeding pairs at St Croix from 8,500 pairs in 2016, an almost 85% decrease since bunkering started in South Africa," Pichegru said. "I was counting the dead birds every month on the beach of the bay." Aegean, now trading as Minerva, is a wholly-owned unit of global energy trader Mercuria and Heron Marine is a subsidiary of rival Trafigura, while SA Marine Fuels is majority owned by Oryx Energies.A moratorium on new licenses, in place since August 2019, will only be lifted once an environmental impact assessment is completed by port authorities. The assessment is expected next year, a SAMSA official said.
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