Chile’s endangered Humboldt penguins risk further decline, scientists say

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CACHAGUA ISLAND (Reuters) -Chilean scientists warned of further risks to the world’s shrinking population of Humboldt penguins, one of the few species that live on rocky coastlands in more temperate regions, after officials declared the species endangered.

Chile’s Pacific coast is home to 80% of the world’s remaining Humboldt penguins, and scientists at the Universidad de Concepcion estimate that their numbers have dwindled to fewer than 20,000 from around 45,000 in the late 1990s.

International organizations consider the species vulnerable and prohibit commercial trade, but late last month Chile’s Environment Ministry reclassified the seabird as “endangered.” Biologists fear numbers will continue to decline.

Competition for food from commercial fishing as well as habitat loss, pollution, bird flu and the worsening impacts of climate change have contributed to declining numbers.

“The series of threats facing penguins today has not diminished,” Guillermo Cubillos, a marine biologist at Chile’s national zoo, told Reuters.

“If these threats persist over time, it is very likely this species will go from endangered to critically endangered, and from there it is a very short step to the species disappearing for good.”

Paulina Arce, a veterinary expert on the Humboldt penguin, said the species is threatened by deaths in fishing nets as well as competition for marine resources, and the classification calls for stricter legislation for sustainable fishing, both on the industrial and small-scale fronts.

“The measures that have been implemented so far are not working,” she said. “It is useless to reclassify a species if this is not combined with measures to ensure that this species can continue to live and feed in its habitats.”

Legislation, Arce said, is key so humans can coexist with nature.

(Reporting by Rodrigo Gutierrez; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by Patricia Reaney)