**1. Introduction**

The Benguela Current Large Marine Ecosystem (BCLME) in the southeast Atlantic Ocean is one of the world's four major eastern boundary currents, which undergo intense upwelling of cool nutrient-rich waters that support high phytoplankton biomasses and abundant forage fish resources [1]. The forage fishes, in turn, are fed upon by numerous predators, including seabirds [2]. The BCLME ranges from approximately Benguela in southern Angola to Woody Cape at the eastern border of Algoa Bay in southern South Africa, being bounded in the north and east by the warm Angola and Agulhas currents, respectively (**Figure 1**).

#### **Figure 1.**

*A map of the Benguela ecosystem showing localities mentioned in the text. The dotted white lines demarcate the seven regions used to investigate distributional changes of seabirds and the guano they produced.*

There are 16 species of seabird that breed within the BCLME. Additionally at least 4.4 million birds [3] of c. 66 other species (excluding rare vagrants) migrate to or through the BCLME (**Table 1**). Non-breeding migrants may remain within the BCLME year round.


**53**

*Seabirds of the Benguela Ecosystem: Utilisation, Long-Term Changes and Challenges*

Penguin

Penguin

Storm-Petrel

Storm-Petrel

*Hydrobates pelagicus* European Storm-Petrel Least Concern Unknown *Hydroprogne caspia* Caspian Tern Least Concern Increasing *Larus cirrocephalus* Grey-headed Gull Least Concern Stable *Larus dominicanus vetula* Kelp Gull Least Concern Increasing *Larus hartlaubii* Hartlaub's Gull Least Concern Increasing *Larus pipixcan* Franklin's Gull Least Concern Increasing

*Lugensa brevirostris* Kerguelen Petrel Least Concern Decreasing *Macronectes giganteus* Southern Giant-Petrel Least Concern Increasing *Macronectes halli* Northern Giant-Petrel Least Concern Increasing *Microcarbo coronatus* Crowned Cormorant Near Threatened Stable *Morus capensis* Cape Gannet Endangered Decreasing *Morus serrator* Australian Gannet Least Concern Increasing *Oceanites oceanicus* Wilson's Storm-Petrel Least Concern Stable *Onychoprion (Sterna) fuscatus* Sooty Tern Least Concern Unknown *Pachyptila belcheri* Slender-billed Prion Least Concern Stable *Pachyptila desolata* Antarctic Prion Least Concern Decreasing *Pachyptila salvini* Salvin's Prion Least Concern Stable

Tern

Gull

Storm-Petrel

Cormorant

*Pelecanus onocrotalus* Great White Pelican Least Concern Unknown *Phaethon aethereus* Red-billed Tropicbird Least Concern Decreasing *Phaethon lepturus* White-tailed Tropicbird Least Concern Decreasing *Phaethon rubricauda* Red-tailed Tropicbird Least Concern Stable *Phalacrocorax capensis* Cape Cormorant Endangered Decreasing

**Species Common name IUCN status Population** 

*Diomedea sanfordi* Northern Royal Albatross Endangered Decreasing

*Eudyptes chrysolophus* Macaroni Penguin Vulnerable Decreasing

**trend**

Vulnerable Decreasing

Endangered Decreasing

Least Concern Decreasing

Least Concern Decreasing

Least Concern Decreasing

Least Concern Unknown

Least Concern Decreasing

Least Concern Unknown

Leach's Storm-Petrel Vulnerable Decreasing

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96326*

*Eudyptes chrysocome* Southern Rockhopper

*Eudyptes moseleyi* Northern Rockhopper

*Fregetta grallaria* White-bellied

*Fregetta tropica* Black-bellied

*Hydobates leucorous (Oceanodroma* 

*leucorhoa)*

*Gelochelidon nilotica* Common Gull-billed

*Larus ridibundus* Common Black-headed

*Pelagodroma marina* White-faced

*Phalacrocorax lucidus* White-breasted

*Seabirds of the Benguela Ecosystem: Utilisation, Long-Term Changes and Challenges DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96326*


*Birds - Challenges and Opportunities for Business, Conservation and Research*

There are 16 species of seabird that breed within the BCLME. Additionally at least 4.4 million birds [3] of c. 66 other species (excluding rare vagrants) migrate to or through the BCLME (**Table 1**). Non-breeding migrants may remain within the

**Species Common name IUCN status Population** 

*Aptenodytes patagonicus* King Penguin Least Concern Increasing *Ardenna carneipes* Flesh-footed Shearwater Near Threatened Decreasing *Ardenna gravis* Great Shearwater Least Concern Stable *Ardenna grisea* Sooty Shearwater Near Threatened Decreasing *Bulweria bulwerii* Bulwer's Petrel Least Concern Stable *Calonectris borealis* Cory's Shearwater Least Concern Unknown *Calonectris diomedea* Scopoli's Shearwater Least Concern Decreasing

**trend**

Decreasing

Least Concern Decreasing

Endangered

*A map of the Benguela ecosystem showing localities mentioned in the text. The dotted white lines demarcate the* 

*seven regions used to investigate distributional changes of seabirds and the guano they produced.*

*Catharacta antarctica* Brown (Subantarctic)

Skua

*Diomedea dabbenena* Tristan Albatross Critically

*Catharacta maccormicki* South Polar Skua Least Concern Stable *Daption capense* Cape (Pintado) Petrel Least Concern Stable *Diomedea amsterdamensis* Amsterdam Albatross Endangered Increasing

*Diomedea epomophora* Southern Royal Albatross Vulnerable Stable *Diomedea exulans* Wandering Albatross Vulnerable Decreasing

**52**

BCLME year round.

**Figure 1.**


#### **Table 1.**

*The conservation status of seabirds that occur in the BCLME (rare vagrants have been excluded). Where known, the recent global population trend is indicated [4]. Information is sorted on genus and then species. Grey shading indicates species or races that breed only in the BCLME. The Royal Tern occurring in the BCLME has recently been reclassified as the West African Crested Tern* Thalasseus albididorsalis*.*

**55**

**Figure 2.**

*Seabirds of the Benguela Ecosystem: Utilisation, Long-Term Changes and Challenges*

This chapter summarises the former and present utilisation of the BCLME's seabirds and their products, changes in their distribution and abundance, their conservation status and factors influencing it, and future challenges if healthy seabird populations and their benefits are to be maintained. In order to investigate distributional changes, the BCLME was divided into seven regions: southern Angola, northern, central and southern Namibia, and western, southwestern and

From the late 1400s, African Penguins *Spheniscus demersus* and other seabirds in the BCLME were caught as food by early explorers, as fuel to supply ship boilers and to be rendered down for their fat [5, 6]. However, the primary attraction of African Penguins was their eggs. Collection of these on a large scale may have begun as early as 1652 [7]. Details of numbers of eggs collected at different breeding localities are available for each year from 1871–1967 (after which collections ceased) with gaps

Annual collections averaged c. 192,000 eggs from 1871–1878, c. 537,000 eggs from 1891–1931 and c. 76,000 eggs from 1935–1967 (**Figure 2**). The overall harvest for the 80 years between 1871 and 1967 for which records were kept was c. 23.4 million eggs, with a maximum of 801,500 eggs in 1899. About 99% of the eggs were taken off western South Africa (84% from Dassen Island), with small proportions coming from southern Namibia (< 1%) and southwestern South Africa (c. 1%). Although ease of access to colonies and of gathering eggs would have influenced localities selected for collections, their geographical distribution approximated that of African Penguins at the time. In the early 1900s, Dassen Island off western South Africa was the largest colony holding an estimated 0.57–0.93 million breeding pairs between 1910 and 1930 [8, 9]. In 1956, no African Penguins bred in Angola or northern Namibia. The proportions then breeding in central and southern Namibia and in western, southwestern and southern South Africa were 5%, 25%, 62%, 3%

*Trends in total collections of African Penguin eggs and seabird guano in the BCLME, 1871–1999.*

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96326*

southern South Africa, as indicated on **Figure 1**.

from 1879–1890, 1894–1896 and in 1904 and 1914 [7].

**2. Utilisation**

**2.1 Penguin eggs**

and 5%, respectively [10].

*Seabirds of the Benguela Ecosystem: Utilisation, Long-Term Changes and Challenges DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96326*

This chapter summarises the former and present utilisation of the BCLME's seabirds and their products, changes in their distribution and abundance, their conservation status and factors influencing it, and future challenges if healthy seabird populations and their benefits are to be maintained. In order to investigate distributional changes, the BCLME was divided into seven regions: southern Angola, northern, central and southern Namibia, and western, southwestern and southern South Africa, as indicated on **Figure 1**.
