Comments on: Insufficient precautionary management of South Africa’s purse-seine fishery for conservation of the African Penguin (FISHERIES/2013/SWG-PEL/ICTT/4) by Pichegru et al.

This document provides comments on certain parts of FISHERIES/2013/SWG-PEL/ICTT/4 by L Pichegru, K Ludynia, AB Makhado, A McInnes, C Moseley, K Robinson, R Sherley, A Steinfurth, L Waller and RJM Crawford. To aid the reader, these have been inserted in the original text, but are shown in bold red italics for ease of identification. In the interests of a shorter document, parts of the original document without direct pertinence to the comments made have been excised.

The population of African Penguins Spheniscus demersus in South Africa decreased rapidly in the 21st century. This became a focus of substantial research, including by the Island Closure Task Team (ICTT) of the Small Pelagics Scientific Working Group (SWG–PEL) of Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF). We document below some concerns regarding conservation of the African Penguin and make recommendations for a more precautionary management of South Africa’s purse-seine fishery that will account for the species’ food requirements.