Eyes on the Ocean

Shark Warrior Adventures, South Africa and Ocean Eye launch a new
conservation program to help save African Penguins
On World Ocean Day, Shark Warrior Adventures, its AfriOceans Conservation Alliance NPO
and Ocean Eye announced a new partnership to help save the critically endangered African
penguin.
Cape town is a world famous marine tourism destination; the tours facilitated by
SharkWarrior Adventures will now introduce Ocean Eye to their clients that conduct
walking, kayaking, snorkeling and diving tours in the diverse ecosystems of the Cape of
Good Hope. The funds will initially go towards programs to help protect the critically
endangered African penguin where only 10,000 breeding pairs remain.
The penguins are threatened with the warming effects of climate change, together with the
deterioration of their feeding habitats as their main food source, the sardines continue to be
overfished and stocks decline. This is having a cascading effect on the food chain from
penguins to sharks and all other marine life.
“I have been closely watching these incredible African penguins for 6 years now during
daily kayak trips and can see how hard they are working to swim out in rafts to find the
elusive sardines 50 miles away at the edge of the continental shelf, off the Cape of Good
Hope. They dive down together in an incredible collaboration to create a huge bait ball of
fish, forcing them to the surface where the many species of pelagic birds like the swift terns
& the cape cormorants can dive down and reach them. That is the real value of the African
penguin – they find the fish so the rest of nature may benefit from their efforts. It’s about
time that we learn from these penguins and collaborate too if we are serious about saving
this incredible species from extinction in the wild” said AfriOceans & SWA Director Terry
Corr.
Tourism is a key economic activity of Cape Town with recent visitor numbers exceeding all
expectations. Its marine biodiversity is worth millions if only its value could be monetized
directly. By using Ocean Eye tourists can directly pay for the wildlife they appreciate and
see, empowering them to be part of the solution and conservation efforts.
‘Ocean Eye is excited to be launching this new site, the first in Africa, on World oceans day
2023 and contribute to the protection of this unique and valuable ecosystem and its key
species the African penguin. We hope to engage other tourist operators in the area and get
them to join the efforts too before its too late’; said Sari Tolvanen, Founder of Ocean Eye.
For people wanting to join Shark Warrior Adventures kayaking, snorkeling or walking tours
with the penguin’s, you can book at:www.sharkwarrior.com. The use of Ocean Eye will be
demonstrated at the start of each tour making it easy for everyone to partake.