Endangered penguin protection case delayed

Litigation to protect endangered penguins will face a delay of several months, with a new hearing date set down for March next year. A News24 report notes that the hearing was initially scheduled for this month in the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria). The landmark case involves bird conservation groups taking the Department of Forestry, Fisheries & the Environment (DFFE) to the Western Cape High Court in a bid to protect African penguins from likely extinction in the wild as soon as 2035. Kate Handley, executive director of the Biodiversity Law Centre, which represents the conservation groups, said that the delay was due to the late filing of answering affidavits by the state parties. BirdLife SA and Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds are applicants in the litigation against the department, the Environmental Minister, the SA Pelagic Fishing Industry Association and the Eastern Cape Pelagic Association. The litigation is proceeding despite a social media post by Environmental Minister Dion George, saying that he had instructed his lawyers to settle. George's predecessor, Barbara Creecy, imposed some fishing restrictions on small pelagic species like sardines and anchovy which are the penguins' major food source. However, the two conservation groups are arguing that these restrictions are insufficient to properly protect the penguins from competition with commercial fishing vessels near their breeding islands and are therefore arbitrary and biologically irrational.