Nearly 2,000 dead penguins have been found on the eastern coasts of Uruguay in ten days, the cause of this carnage, which remains unexplained, not seeming to be avian flu, authorities said. These Magellanic penguins, most of them young, died in the Atlantic Ocean before being brought back by the currents to the coasts of the departments of Canelones, Maldonado and Rocha (south, southeast), explained to AFP the wildlife officer at the Uruguayan Ministry of the Environment, Carmen Leizagoyen.
According to her, “90% are young specimens that arrive without fat reserves and with an empty stomach”. The tests carried out to determine the presence of the avian flu are negative, she added.
Overfishing responsible for increased Magellanic penguin mortality
This species of penguin, which nests in southern Argentina, migrates north in search of warmer waters during the austral winter, and can go up to the coasts of the Brazilian state of Espirito Santo (southeast).
“It is normal for a certain percentage to die, but not as many,” said Carmen Leizagoyen, recalling that a similar slaughter had taken place last year in Brazil, again for an unknown cause. Hector Caymaris, the director of the protected lagoon of Rocha, assured AFP that he had counted more than 500 dead penguins on ten kilometers of beach.
Conservationists blame Magellanic penguin mortality on overfishing and illegal fishing. “From the 1990s and 2000s, we began to see animals that lacked food,” lamented to AFP Richard Tesore, of the NGO SOS Rescue of marine fauna, stressing an “overexploitation” of marine resources.
According to him, the cyclone that appeared in the Atlantic which hit the south-east of Brazil in mid-July had probably led to the death of the most weakened individuals, due to the bad climatic conditions.
In addition to penguins, Richard Tesore says he has found dead petrels, albatrosses, seagulls, sea turtles and sea lions on the beaches of Maldonado, east of the Uruguayan capital Montevideo.