{"id":28556,"date":"2020-02-11T01:01:51","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T00:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=28556"},"modified":"2021-12-01T13:48:57","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T12:48:57","slug":"antarctic-penguin-colonies-decline-by-as-much-as-77-in-last-50-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/press-release\/28556\/antarctic-penguin-colonies-decline-by-as-much-as-77-in-last-50-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Antarctic penguin colonies decline by as much as 77% in last 50 years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ushuaia, Argentina \u2013 Scientists surveying chinstrap penguin colonies in the Antarctic have found drastic reductions in many colonies, with some declining by as much as 77% since they were last surveyed almost 50 years ago. <\/p>\n\n

The\nindependent researchers, on a Greenpeace expedition to the region, found that\nevery single colony surveyed on Elephant Island, an important habitat northeast\nof the Antarctic Peninsula, had declined. The number of chinstrap penguins on\nElephant Island has dropped almost 60% since the last survey in 1971, with a\ntotal count of only 52,786 breeding pairs of chinstrap penguins, plummeting\nfrom previous survey estimates of around 122,550 pairs.<\/p>\n\n

Campaigners\nthis week have been installing \u2018disappearing\u2019 penguin ice sculptures in\ncapitals around the world, from Seoul to London, Buenos Aires to Cape Town, to\ndemand urgent action to protect ocean wildlife with a Global Ocean Treaty. [See images\nhere<\/a>].<\/p>\n\n

Dr Heather J. Lynch, Associate Professor of Ecology & Evolution at Stony Brook University, one of the expedition\u2019s leads, said: \u201cSuch significant declines suggest that the Southern Ocean\u2019s ecosystem is fundamentally changed from 50 years ago, and that the impacts of this are rippling up the food web to species like chinstrap penguins. While several factors may have a role to play, all the evidence we have points to climate change as being responsible for the changes we are seeing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n

Frida Bengtsson of Greenpeace\u2019s Protect the Oceans campaign, said: \u201c A world with fewer penguins is a less happy place. As wildlife struggles, we urgently need sanctuaries free from harmful human activity not only in the Antarctic, but across the world’s oceans, so marine life like penguins have the space to recover from human activity and adapt to our rapidly changing climate. To do that, it\u2019s imperative that governments agree on a Global Ocean Treaty this year.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

The team\nof scientists, from Stony Brook and Northeastern University, has also been\nsurveying a series of large but relatively unknown chinstrap penguin colonies\non Low Island, using manual and drone surveying techniques. This will be the\nfirst time the island, thought to have around 100,000 breeding pairs of\nchinstrap penguins, has been properly surveyed from land, with results to\nfollow.<\/p>\n\n

ENDS<\/p>\n\n

Photo\nand video can be accessed here
\n<\/a>Interviews with scientists\nand campaigners are available upon request.<\/p>\n\n

Disappearing penguin ice sculptures appeared in 15 countries around the world, including: Buenos Aires, Cape Town, London, Seoul and Tel Aviv. Images are available here<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Notes:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

[1] Greenpeace\u2019s ships the Esperanza and Arctic Sunrise are in the Antarctic for the conclusion of Greenpeace\u2019s Pole to Pole expedition. See here for a map of the \u2018Pole to Pole\u2019 route<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

[2] The\nexpedition is documenting threats to the world\u2019s oceans as part of Greenpeace\u2019s\ncampaign for a Global\nOcean Treaty<\/a>, which\ncould lay the groundwork for a network of ocean sanctuaries covering 30% of the\nworld\u2019s oceans by 2030.<\/p>\n\n

[3]\nGreenpeace has been campaigning for the establishment of three Antarctic\nsanctuary proposals, which after being rejected in 2019, are due to be\ndiscussed again at this year\u2019s Antarctic Ocean Commission (CCAMLR) meeting in\nOctober. These sanctuaries would offer protection for many of the colonies\nbeing surveyed.<\/p>\n\n

[4] Dr\nHeather J. Lynch is IACS Endowed Chair of Ecology & Evolution at Stony\nBrook University<\/p>\n\n

[5]\nFrida Bengtsson is a senior ocean campaigner at Greenpeace Nordic<\/p>\n\n

Contact:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

James Hanson – Press Officer, Greenpeace UK – james.hanson@greenpeace.org<\/a>, 07801 212 994

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org<\/a> <\/p>\n

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