Patagonian penguin populations plunging

P. Dee Boersma fell in love many years ago with a flightless bird that does its soaring underwater. Looking at the penguin and chicks above, it's easy to see why. Now she's delivering some heart-breaking news about the focus of her affection and decades of fieldwork. The largest colony of Patagonian penguins, also known as Magellanic penguins, has plunged by about 22% over the past two decades.

Reasons abound. As Boersma explains in the latest issue of BioScience, these sentinels of marine health are being devastated by overfishing, oily pollution and even pressure from hordes of tourists.

Parent penguins have to swim an extra 40 miles to find prey than they did a decade ago. Penguins lose their feathery insulation from the cold when they get oiled by ships dumping contaminated ballast water. More than 100,000 tourists visited the colony in the past decade.

Boersma, a University of Washington professor, vows to continue her penguin studies. She and the Wildlife Conservation Society, joined by Argentinian officials, managed in the 1980s to stop this colony of penguins from being turned into so many golf gloves by a Japanese company. Other threats are harder to turn around.

"The fundamental problem is that we are not managing people well," Boersma said. "We are out of balance with the world. That's what penguins are telling us."

-- Kenneth R. Weiss

Photo by P. Dee Boersma, University of Washington

Comments

[Anonymous]

When I was a kid in the 1960-70's, I used to go fishing off the Sata Monica Pier and be able to catch large sea bass, makerels, flounders, and even a yellow tail, at times. I could see schools of sardines in the clear water off the pier. Today, I took my son to a deep fishing trip and hardly can catch anything, the boat was so full of fisherman, I could not even have the chance to cast my line. One does not need to be a scientist to know the death of our oceans and seas.

[Hayley Laity]

As I read this, I couldn't help but feel continual anger for the human race. I mean, after all, humans are the number one predator in the world, not allowing other species to properlly live. We're murderously excluding every other species imaginable, just so we can be more advanced than many other worldly places...but isn't this going to cut us short in the future? I am certain it will. For every animal, habitat, and section of air that we either force to extinction or pollute, will conclude in disaster. The end will also draw nearer if we continue on this deathly, global escapade. I'm just appalled at the way our world is "functioning" and loathe that we can't simply come to terms with nature. Where is OUR human nature? Will a balance be found, or is it just a fictitious thought slithering in my mind? And if we do happen to find a balance...will it be too late?
- Hayley Laity (16 years old.)

[Lin Kerns]

Dee Boersma is the patron saint of the Magellanic Penguins, and thank God she is. Her work speaks for itself and it is remarkable in scope and influence. She has my undying gratitude for her work in making the dilemma of the Magels a worldwide topic and also, for making it a personal interest of everyone on this earth. If ever a project needed our help, then this one stands as the example.

It's time to wake up, world. Help us to make the lives of the penguin as much a priority as the price of gasoline and the state of foreign affairs. Remember, if these precious birds go, then we are not far behind and not much else will matter.

Thanks LA Times for your help, as well.

[emily]

Too many fools in the world killing everything and eating everything. No population control means the end of the world.