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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-10-19 Daily Xml
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Parliamentary Committees

NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE: LITTLE PENGUINS

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (16:00): I move:

That the 59th report of the committee, entitled Little Penguins: Away with the fairies, be noted.

This is a report of the committee's investigations into Little Penguins in South Australia. The committee's interest in Little Penguins began in December 2010 when committee member the Hon. Robert Brokenshire MLC raised the issue in response to a request from Mr John Ayliffe, Manager of the Kangaroo Island Penguin Centre in Kingscote.

This report is not the result of a formal inquiry; rather, the committee has taken evidence from Mr Ayliffe and a number of others interested in penguins, as well as seeking advice from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Kangaroo Island NRM board. A number of individuals with relevant experience were contacted and a preliminary literature review undertaken. This report is a summary of the evidence gathered.

There are approximately 80 colonies of Little Penguins or fairy penguins (Latin name Eudyptula minor, which means 'good little diver') in South Australia. Most colonies are small but there are also larger ones such as at Pearson Island, 60 kilometres south of Elliston in the state's west, with 12,000 birds. Most of the colonies are genetically isolated, which means they have not had contact with each other for 100 years or more.

The Kingscote and Penneshaw colonies on Kangaroo Island are genetically isolated, meaning that if either became extinct it would be unlikely to be replaced by birds migrating from other sources. Overall, I am pleased to say that the Little Penguins are not considered an endangered species either in South Australia or nationally. While the species overall may not be under threat, members were still concerned to hear of the rapid decline in penguin numbers on Granite Island at Victor Harbor, which is 60 kilometres south of Adelaide. Members were shocked to hear that the little penguin numbers on Granite Island have declined from 1,548 birds in 2001 to 146 birds in 2010, with just 102 left in 2011.

There are similar circumstances on nearby West Island where the numbers have dropped from around 2,000 in 2000-01 to less than 50 in 2010. The most likely cause of the decline is believed to be increased predation by New Zealand fur seals which are enjoying a population boom after the cessation of commercial sealing last century. Predation by dogs, cats, rats and fluctuating fish stocks may also be a factor.

While the New Zealand fur seals are clearly implicated in the declining penguin numbers, it appears that different mechanisms may be at work and the overall picture remains unclear. For example, Little Penguin numbers have declined on islands that do not have seal colonies or are not known as haul-out locations for seals. In other locations, large penguin colonies are thriving in close proximity to large seal colonies. This suggests the need for more research and that is recommended in this report in order to ensure the appropriate response.

Recently, members may have heard reports that New Zealand fur seals have been spotted in Upper Spencer Gulf, near Point Lowly, which is the world-renowned spawning site of the giant Australian cuttlefish. As honourable members would be aware, these unique cephalopods are under pressure on a number of different fronts, so an additional pressure such as may be posed by the rapidly expanding bands of marauding fur seals is particularly ill timed.

Mr Ayliffe was particularly concerned that Kingscote's Little Penguin colony may suffer from the same fate as Granite Island and drew members' attention to a small number of young male bachelor seals targeting penguins. The position of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources was that the Kingscote colony appears stable for the time being. We should know whether this is correct, as the annual Kangaroo Island penguin census, which expands this year to four locations on the island, has just begun. Unfortunately, the colony at Penneshaw was reported to be terminally in decline, with the numbers collapsing from 200 birds three years previously to less than half a dozen, according to Simone Somerfield, who runs the Penneshaw Penguin Centre.

Mr Ayliffe put to this committee that within three to five years there will be no commercially exploitable penguin colonies in South Australia unless there is some management of the seal colonies in South Australia. Mr Ayliffe's fears were that the local extinction of penguins would impact both on Kangaroo Island's ecological diversity and on the local economy due to the loss of the tourist ventures at Penneshaw and Kingscote.

In contrast, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources described the decline of penguin colonies used as tourism assets as a tourism issue rather than a NRM issue. The department's position put to the committee was that the number of penguins had become artificially inflated in recent decades in response to the reduced number of seals and that what we are now seeing with declining penguin numbers is a return to the status quo.

It was also hypothesised that Little Penguins on Kangaroo Island may be modifying their colonising behaviour by scattering along the southern coastline at lower densities unattractive to seals and also choosing to inhabit places distant from fur seal colonies. If correct, such a mechanism might hopefully ensure the survival of the species in South Australia, even if some colonies do become extinct.

The problem with the department's assertion that penguin numbers will stabilise once fur seal numbers have returned to pre-European levels is that accurate pre-sealing population estimates do not exist, and DENR cannot predict what the status quo that we were heading for might look like or when it might happen. One recent estimate suggests that 57,000 New Zealand fur seals live today in Australian waters. Historically, records indicate that between 100,000 and 300,000 seal skins were taken by sealers off Kangaroo Island between 1803 and the 1960s, although the unregulated nature of the industry, especially in the early days, means that these numbers may be significantly under-reported.

Regardless of the exact figure, it is important to recognise that the current 10 to 15 per cent per annum seal population increase could continue for another 10 to 15 years. Such a massive increase in seal numbers could even stimulate the call for a resumption of commercial seal harvesting in years to come—a proposal that is likely to generate significant public discussion. Mr Ayliffe proposed to the committee a small and strictly controlled trial targeting the individual seals identified as impacting on the penguin tourism assets. Suggestions involved bleach marking and tagging problem seals to keep track of them, and harassing seals away from penguin colonies used for tourism using non-lethal deterrents. Relocating problem seals away from penguins was suggested as a last resort.

In response, the department and much of the published literature countered that attempts to manage seals in other jurisdictions have proven 'fairly ineffectual, incredibly resource hungry and expensive to deliver'. The department suggests that instead, the best course of action was to undertake a community education program to tell people that the process of penguin decline was a natural one. While penguin decline may be a natural phenomenon, committee members argued that Mr Ayliffe's suggestion should at least be properly considered by the department.

Members of this committee will be keeping a close eye on the Little Penguin. We urge the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the NRM boards to work cooperatively with interested individuals such as Mr Ayliffe to ensure that the shorter-term impacts of penguin tourism are given due consideration, as well as the longer-term survival of the Little Penguin in South Australia.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (16:10): I rise briefly to support the 59th report of the Natural Resources Committee with respect to the committee's investigations into Little Penguins in South Australia. I will not go over a lot of the ground that my honourable colleague the Hon. Gerry Kandelaars has already highlighted, but I did put this to the committee because Mr Ayliffe had alerted me to concerns that he had over penguin numbers in certain parts of Kangaroo Island.

I have to say that at first I did not really believe what he was saying when he was indicating to me how he felt that the numbers were dropping so dramatically. Of course, living on the Fleurieu Peninsula, I, like a lot of people to an extent, take for granted the Little Penguins on Granite Island at Victor Harbor.

Whenever we have visitors, or for our children over the years, we would jump into the car, it is 20 minutes down to Victor Harbor and at sundown you could go for a walk and show anybody lots of Little Penguins. That is something that is cherished. It is important that we protect and look after those Little Penguins. It is also important from a tourism point of view as well, because one of the reasons that people go to both Kangaroo Island and Victor Harbor is to be able to have a look at these Little Penguins.

It is important, I think, that on our watch we do everything that we can, from the evidence that the committee has gathered, to ensure that these Little Penguins are never to become extinct. There have been counts lately by volunteers and university students at Victor Harbor, and the number of Little Penguins is very concerning. It is in the handfuls now; it is not even in the hundreds. So, clearly, there are concerns there.

Initially, the department, when the committee decided to make some inquiries into this, was in total denial: that there was not an issue and there was not a problem. However, when the committee started to have a look into this issue and received some evidence, including from Mr Trethewey from Kangaroo Island who has had enormous experience with Little Penguins for all of his life, it became clear that there was a potentially serious problem. I acknowledge now that the department is going to monitor and have a close look at this issue.

As has already been said, this is not a report with absolute recommendations. It was an inquiry, an investigation by the committee. I want to thank the chair of the committee, the Hon. Steph Key, and my colleagues on the committee. It is a very good committee, a multipartisan committee that is there to serve the parliament and the state in the best interests of natural resources.

I want to finish by putting on the record that the committee urges the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the NRM boards to work cooperatively with interested individuals to ensure that short-term impacts on penguin tourism are given due consideration as well as the longer-term survival of Little Penguins in South Australia.

The report makes some clear recommendations as to a way forward. It is careful in the way it makes those recommendations for obvious reasons but, from time to time, certain populations of animals do get out of balance and that often results in the demise of other animal species. That is our concern at the moment. The question is: how do we get that back into balance? With those few remarks, I support the report that has been tabled today.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J.M. Gazzola.

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