South Africa: Algoa Bay’s African penguins catch a break from marine noise

On St Croix Island in Algoa Bay, which is part of the Addo Elephant Marine Protected Area (MPA), there were 7,000 endangered African penguin breeding pairs in 2015. By 2023, the number had collapsed to 700, according to researcher Professor Lorien Pichegru. But the good news is that numbers are rising again – thanks to a tax dispute.

St Croix, only 12 hectares in size and 4km from the Port of Coega (Ngqura), couldn’t be in a worse spot. The African penguins on St Croix suffer, says…