Mississippi Aquarium is passionate about conservation. Ric Urban, is not only the Vice President of Animal Care and Conservation, he's also a local leader in African penguin conservation efforts.
Mississippi Aquarium and other close colleagues advocate for penguin conservation with the help of Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA), SAFE African Penguin program and Saving Animals From Extinction (SAFE). Ric represents Mississippi Aquarium by serving as Project the Coordinator for the Individual Identification Project for African Penguins and working directly with field biologists and rescue centers throughout South Africa.
AZA SAFE and the AZA member institutions provide financial support to the program which allows us to coordinate equipment and supplies for African Penguins in their range countries.
In the beginning of February, Ric organized and sent 1,474 transponders to South Africa for the 2021 population survey of African Penguins. African penguins are a critically endangered species. The decline of the African penguin in the past twenty years has been very rapid and ongoing with a 75% decline during the past 20 years. The 2019 population survey had a 12% decrease with approximately 26,500 individuals in the wild. 2020 was difficult to get numbers on the colonies due to COVID and the lockdown around the country.
Since 2013, the AZA SAFE African Penguin Individual Identification Project has tagged over 4,000 birds in rehabilitation centers and in colonies. There have been 2,067 adult penguins tagged in colonies, 1,197 fledglings tagged in colonies and 956 (chicks and adults) tagged in rehabilitation centers.
The AZA SAFE African Penguin Individual Identification Project is very important and has supported other initiatives in South Africa like assessing fish availability around the African Penguin breeding colonies regarding temporary fishing closures and fishing restrictions. There are also studies looking at the movements of penguins from colony to colony as juveniles and pre-breeding years. Both projects allow us to better understand the birds and where they settle to breed and how this is influenced by the availability of fish.
The AZA SAFE African Penguin Individual Identification Project is crucial in monitoring the long-term survival of the African Penguin, assess the threats and the effectiveness of the conservation measures to hopefully protect this species from extinction.
As the program matures and biologists tag more individuals, it will continue to need support. Old equipment needs to be replaced and technology continues to improve. Therefore, the field biologists are in constant need of transponders, ground readers and other equipment to support their work in South Africa and Namibia.