Falklands Conservation

At the same time Rockhopper penguins have moulted a month later than usual, with a slightly higher number of birds dying in the rookeries. The delay in moulting is seen as a sign that the birds are in a poor physical condition. The prime suspect is a shortage of food - and the likeliest cause is a drop in the sea temperature caused by the melting of Antarctic ice. The commercial catch of the Loligo squid eaten by Magellanics is one of the worst ever. Scientists suspect that the cooler sea temperatures have made the squid stay in Argentinian waters rather than off the Falkland Islands.

The Falkland Islands Government's Senior Fisheries scientist, Dr Sasha Arkhipkin, warned that global warming could make the cooling of the currents off the Falklands a more frequent event with potentially disastrous consequences for the penguins. He said: "It is unclear what is going on. But when ice melts it cools the water. This year was unusual in that it was quite warm in the Antarctic and this has produced cooler currents off the Falklands. Below a depth of 50 metres, the temperature dropped by about 1C. This is a counter-effect of global warming. In the long term these problems could become more common. Marine animals have a great capacity to adapt, but that does not mean that they will do so. They might have to migrate in search of food or they could possibly become extinct."

Earlier this year an iceberg the size of Jamaica was blamed for wrecking the Antarctic breeding season of Adelie penguins. It broke away from the Antarctic two years ago but has been blamed for wrecking the Adelie's food chain by cutting off the light and preventing plankton from growing. The melting Antarctic ice may be having a similar impact on the Falklands this year. The cooler temperatures may have stopped plankton from growing in sufficient quantities - and in turn dramatically disrupted the food chain. Rockhoppers live off tiny shrimp-like plankton and young fish which themselves eat the plankton.

Photo: Rockhopper Penguin with chick - J P Croxall

This zooplankton is also the main food for both the squid and juvenile fish eaten by the Magellanics. The Magellanics, which range as far north as the seas off Brazil outside the breeding season, are eating lobster krill even though neither they nor their chicks can digest its shells. Under normal conditions lobster krill usually accounts for just one per cent of their diet in the breeding season.

Falklands Conservation spokeswoman Andrea Clausen said: "The Magellanics have had very poor breeding success this year. There have been a number of reports that there has been a very distinct lack of chicks around. One of our teams of observers on fishing boats - who study the impact of the fisheries on birds like albatrosses - reported more than 20 dead adult Magellanics at sea. We had one autopsied and it had no body fat while its gut was full of crustacean shells from lobster krill which is not its normal food. I have noticed this lack of chicks and the very obvious presence of a large number of regurgitated krill around burrow entrances." She added: "One possibility is that the drop in the sea temperature has affected the food chain. "The plankton may not have bloomed where they should have done which means there's no food for the squid, juvenile fish or penguins."

Penguin Census 2000/01 Results
Falkland Penguins
Penguin Appeal

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