African penguins to be protected by no-fishing zones in landmark South African deal
Last year, BirdLife South Africa and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (Sanccob) started the legal action - the first case of its kind in South Africa.They alleged that ministers had failed to adequately protect the endangered species after failing to implement key recommendations from a scientific panel brought in by the government to assess the risk to the African penguin.They argued the continuation of "inadequate" interim closures to fishing vessels around the breeding colonies, which are mainly in the Western Cape, had been allowed.The Biodiversity Law Centre, which represents the groups, said the number of penguins had dwindled from 15,000 in 2018 to just under 9,000 at the end of 2023.It said if the current rates of decline persisted the African penguin could be extinct by 2035.The order, issued by the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday, outlines no-go zones for the commercial sardine and anchovy fishing vessels around six key African penguin breeding colonies: Dassen Island, Robben Island, Stony Point, Dyer Island, St Croix Island and Bird Island.
The DFFE has two weeks to make sure the permit conditions and the closures are implemented.Nicky Stander, head of conservation at Sanccob, said the journey was far from over."The threats facing the African penguin are complex and ongoing - and the order itself requires monitoring, enforcement and continued co-operation from industry and the government processes which monitor and allocate sardine and anchovy populations for commercial purposes," she said.The anchovy and sardine fishing industry said it was pleased an agreement had been made, saying the decision was halfway between the interim closures and the area closures requested by conservation groups.It also added that the perception that the fishing industry was the primary cause of the decline of the penguin population was false.The order will last for the next 10 years, bringing it to 2035 which is when scientists predicted the penguin would be extinct. Its progress will be reviewed six years from now.
You may also be interested in:
Pink flamingos 'seized from smugglers' in TunisiaElephant tusks worth $11m destroyed from African stockpileHow an undercover sting outwitted pangolin traffickers
Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time Out
a day ago
- Time Out
Kafe Utu, Singapore's first African café, just updated its brunch menu – here's why you need to try it
The year is 2019, and Singapore's first African café and lounge just landed on the scene. These days, founder Kurt Wagner is more known for his West African restaurant Tamba, which offers a reasonable $138 dinner tasting menu, but before that, Kafe Utu was where curious diners would flock to for a taste of African cuisine. My first visit to the café was in 2022. It didn't accept reservations back then so a crowd was pooling outside during dinner time, but what turned out to be a 90-minute wait proved to be worth it. The three-storey building was impressive at every corner – stunning portraits of African women on the first floor, large leather couches on the second floor for lounging around and mingling with strangers, and a charming alfresco area overlooking the neighbourhood. Tasteful decor aside, the vibe was lively and communal, and the service warm and friendly. Kafe Utu's dinner offerings consist of a pan-African spread of curries paired with rice and condiments, and it also serves brunch and an extensive list of specialty coffee, all roasted in-house. The recent brunch menu refresh sees returns of fan-favourite dishes as well as a couple of additions to keep things fresh. We're told that the previous version leaned more towards stews, rice and curries, while the updated features more bread – think chapati and batbout (a kind of Moroccan pita). Back by popular demand is the pulled pork breakfast ($27), a vibrant platter of spiced shredded pork shoulder topped with a poached egg and smoked barbecue sauce. On the side: refreshing kachumbari, fried plantains and viazi karai (deep-fried potatoes). Get a bit of everything and roll it all up in freshly baked chapati sheets. Or try the Mbuzi Mbaya 'Bad Goat' ($34), highly recommended by my dining companion. Think of it as an African version of the English big breakfast, with homemade goat sausages, marinated goat cheese, smoked pepper sauce, and the same fixings of kachumbari and chapati. We couldn't pass up the Yaba 'Wise Chief' Burger ($42), another much-anticipated comeback on the brunch menu. This towering burger was a mainstay at the café back in 2020, available only in limited quantities each day. At its heart is a thick, juicy slab of Angus brisket and chuck patty, stacked with another layer of smoked ox tongue. Yes, ox tongue – it appears intimidating at first, with a glossy, deep-red sheen, but don't be fooled. It's remarkably tender, richly beefy and completely free of any funky aftertaste. Smoky melted pepper jack cheese adds depth, while house-made pickles cut through the fattiness. Everything we try is spot-on so far and the portions are far from paltry – it's just a tad heavy for brunch. You get your fair share of deep-fried, spicy, smoky and meaty flavours here, so if that's not quite your idea of breakfast, it might be wiser to pop by later in the day before the café closes at 4.30pm for the dinner service. That said, coffee and desserts are a hit with our table. The alcoholic Utu Dome dessert is a classic – and quite the showstopper – with melted dark chocolate poured over a thin chocolate shell encasing crème de pâtissière, pink peppercorns, raspberry liqueur and seasonal berries ($24). New desserts include the sour cream cheesecake with peanut butter ($12) and tapioca fritters with coconut cream and an accompanying chocolate dip ($18). There are over six coffee options on the menu and eight specialty drinks under the Utu Specials section. Hatsu-Koi ($12) is the café's answer to the recently trending strawberry matcha latte, blending jasmine tea with matcha for added florality and using homemade strawberry purée. Meanwhile, classic beverages include the Bidibado ($8) – mocha with a peanut butter rim laced with roasted almonds and pink peppercorn; Malindi Latte ($8) – latte with a secret seven spice syrup; and The Karanga ($12) for sweet tooths, where iced white coffee is topped with peanut butter mascarpone cream.
Times
2 days ago
- Times
Sulking, screaming, fights: welcome to the summer holiday warzone
I have a friend who comedically handles his kids' squabbles with each other like this: minor disputes — 'he got a better bowl', 'she held the remote yesterday' — are referred to the small claims court, which means 'sort it out yourselves'. Slightly more serious stuff, not critical but big enough to descend into familiar, patience-stretching arguing — 'she won't leave my bedroom', 'he has my toy' — goes to the Court of Appeal (him), and the big stuff — full-on shouting matches, maybe some shoving — are sent to the High Court (Mum). It feels like an innovative concept in the parenting toolkit that serves a valuable function, giving him a coping mechanism and the kids a quick indicator of resolution. But, as my own sons squabbled for the thousandth-or-more time about who sat on the favourite chair at breakfast — and no one heard my references to courts of the land — I wondered how else we can deal with the relentlessness of sibling arguments, big or small, and in the best way for them and for us. How and when are we really meant to intervene, and are there times when we should just leave them to battle it out? Am I helping if I referee every disagreement (as they often beg me to), or am I hindering their ability to resolve conflict later in life? Parenting specialist and family therapist Caroline Peeney says: 'Your children are not all clones, they're going to have different hopes, needs and wishes, so conflict is normal.' Peeney, a mum-of-three and author of The Parenting Toolkit: Simple Steps to Happy and Confident Children, adds: 'Being part of a sibling group can be incredibly helpful — they have to learn to resolve conflict because they live together.' She suggests four layers to managing disagreements. 'If it's a normal argument, like whose turn it is to load the dishwasher, children can enjoy honing their skills and coming to a victory, negotiating and knowing parents aren't going to get involved. These are the arguments where it might be loud but they're not screaming or hurting each other, they're just working something out.' This is level one and parents can choose to leave well alone. • How to talk to your children about siblings The next level is when it's growing out of control. 'That's when you acknowledge feelings,' says Peeney. 'Say we've got a problem, for example you both want to hold the pet but he can't sit on two laps. State it out loud and say 'you're both clever, can you sort it out?' 'If they're getting more cross, make suggestions that help, such as setting a timer [an inarguable referee] to split the time they each have with whatever they're fighting over.' Level three is teaching them negotiation skills. 'Have each child say what they feel and need to their sibling. One might say, 'I was enjoying playing with the Lego and really need to finish it.' The other might say, 'I really want to play with you and feel upset because you don't want to.' You then say, 'Do you think you can come up with a plan to both get your feelings and needs met?' It sounds tough with little ones but if you start from an early age they can get into this.' And if they're still screaming at each other? That's level four. 'It can get violent and horrible,' Peeney says. 'So, you say this is no good, you all need to go somewhere to calm down. It can be two minutes but it shows they still have the ability to feel in control.' It also offers kids and parents alike the chance to cool down from the cortisol dump now bubbling from an over-blown squabble, whatever it started over. 'Often it's not even worth returning to — it can be better to offer them a biscuit.' Learning not to jump in all the time is 'an art', Peeney reminds parents. 'Managing their arguments feels exhausting but it's important. These are templates for future relationships.' And contrary to that familiar, sometimes undying, refrain of 'it's not fair', the way we parent our children's arguments is not always about treating each child fairly but treating them 'uniquely'. Dr Emma Svanberg, clinical psychologist and author of Parenting for Humans, agrees. 'Disputes are a normal and necessary part of family life but can be so difficult — and tiring — to deal with.' So, when thinking about the fairest way to step in, she says: 'It's worth considering each child's development, how intense this particular conflict is and how they're relating to each other generally at that time. Development matters more than age because some children find emotional regulation and conflict more difficult than others, so might need a bit more support and scaffolding from you as a parent.' She recommends that parents make a quick assessment of whether anyone risks getting hurt, physically or psychologically. 'If not, then dealing with discord [themselves] is a really important part of developing relational skills — learning how to manage conflict, negotiate and repair.' Parents might need to show their children how this is done early on but over time they should be able to step back as the child employs well-honed skills. • Read more parenting advice, interviews, real-life stories and opinion here In fact, those wails of 'it's not fair' might actually require a different response altogether, says Svanberg. 'This is a time to take a breath and listen. Why doesn't it feel fair? Sometimes there's a clear reason — someone got a bigger slice of cake — but sometimes these complaints are asking more 'Do you see me? Am I important to you?'' Better than answering with logic, defensiveness or a quick fix solution can be to answer with curiosity. 'Ask 'What doesn't feel fair? Why is that important to you?' Maybe even, 'Yes I can see why that would feel unfair, how shall we handle that next time?' We can teach our children that equity can be more important than absolute parity, while listening open-heartedly to their expressions of injustice.' Svanberg also encourages parents to grant themselves grace when handling squabbles that don't pan out the way everyone would like — a kind way of acknowledging that sometimes this whole pursuit is a keen test of parents' patience. 'One of the hardest things for us as parents is the feeling that those things our children are so aggrieved about just don't feel important to us, which can make us feel pretty worn out. But the question behind this for our children is 'do you take my needs and concerns seriously?'' This is an important one, not to be minimised, but, says Svanberg: 'Bonus for us as parents is that taking their experience seriously rather than as yet another problem to solve can also make it into a connecting experience.' Finally, she offers a word of advice for the long summer holidays: 'Take space — as much as you can — for decompression for yourself. Family discord can bring up a lot for us — about our own experiences of being parented, how conflict was handled, differences between us and a co-parent, not to mention the sensory overload of bickering children alongside the stress of the summer holiday juggle. 'It's extremely hard to respond with patience and understanding when you're feeling frazzled. Take time for anything that will help keep you grounded — whether that's a morning run, walk in the sunshine or going outside and screaming at the sky. Do what works for you.'
Daily Record
5 days ago
- Daily Record
'Much-loved' Brit teacher trampled to death by elephant on safari identified
Former chemistry teacher Janet Easton, 68, was tragically killed alongside another tourist during an African safari. A school has paid a touching tribute to a British tourist who was crushed to death by an elephant on a safari. Janet Easton, 68, was fatally trampled on by a nursing elephant in Africa on July 3. Tour guides desperately tried to save her but were unable to deter the animal. The former chemistry teacher was sadly killed alongside another female tourist from New Zealand, reports the Mirror. She has been identified as Alison Taylor, 67. The pair were on a guided safari trip at the South Luangwa National Park when tragedy struck. They were walking around when the animal suddenly charged towards them at high speed. Tour workers attempted to block the animal by using firing shots but failed. Now, her former place of work, Titus Salt School in Baildon, Bradford, has paid tribute. On its website, she was described as an "intrepid traveller" and "much-loved" friend. The teacher, also known as Janice, taught at the site from September 1983 until she retired in August 2022. Headteacher Phil Temple said she was "admired" for her skills. He wrote: ' Sad news. We are sorry to hear the tragic news of the death of our friend and former colleague. Janice Easton whilst travelling in Africa. Janice started working at Titus Salt School in September 1983 and completed almost 40 years of service when she retired in August 2022. "Janice was a highly skilled Chemistry teacher and was for many years responsible for transition to high school. In these roles and others Janice had a profound impact on generations of pupils and students in the local community as well as countless colleagues who admired her skill, tenacity and determination to ensure all young people had the opportunity to succeed. "As well as an exemplary professional Janice was an intrepid traveller, keen photographer and much-loved friend. Janice will be fondly remembered by all in the Titus Salt School and wider communities." Local police chief Robertson Mweemba earlier told the BBC: "They were moving to other camps when the elephant charged from behind. We are really sorry that we have lost our visitors. They both died on the spot." He continued: "It is very difficult to control the animals and tourists like feeding them." The tour was operated by Expert Africa, reports The Times. Managing director Chris McIntyre, previously said: 'This was a deeply tragic and highly unusual incident in one of Africa's most remote wilderness areas. "Our hearts go out to the families and loved ones of the travellers involved. Our priority has been supporting the families in every way possible. We remain in close contact, doing what we can to assist them. "We are liaising closely with the local authorities, our partners on the ground and the relevant consular services to support those involved and to understand how this tragic event occurred. We will, of course, co-operate fully with any official investigations that take place.' Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community!
