Large-scale population assessment informs conservation management for seabirds in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean: A case study of Adélie penguins
Résumé
Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are increasingly affected by fisheries, climate change
and human presence. Antarctic seabirds are vulnerable to all these threats because they
depend on terrestrial and marine environments to breed and forage. We assess the current
distribution and total abundance of Adélie penguins in East Antarctica and find there are
3.5 (95% CI 2.9–4.2) million individuals of breeding age along the East Antarctic coastline
and 5.9 (4.2–7.7) million individuals foraging in the adjacent ocean after the breeding
season. One third of the breeding population numbering over 1 million individuals breed
within 10 km of research stations, highlighting the potential for human activities to impact
Adélie penguin populations despite their current high abundance. The 16 Antarctic Specially
Protected Areas currently designated in East Antarctica offer protection to breeding
populations close to stations in four of six regional populations. The East Antarctic breeding
population consumes an average of 193 500 tonnes of krill and 18 800 tonnes of fish
during a breeding season, with consumption peaking at the end of the breeding season.
These findings can inform future conservation management decisions in the terrestrial
environment under the Protocol on Environmental Protection to develop a systematic
network of protected areas, and in the marine environment under the Convention for
the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources to allow the consumption needs of
Adélie penguins to be taken into account when setting fishery catch limits. Extending this
work to other penguin, flying seabird, seal and whale species is a priority for conservation
management in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.