Page 184 - Atlas Sea Birds Ver1

2.2.4.6 Coastal breeding sites of seabirds around False Bay, Western
Cape, South Africa

Authors: AB Makhado, A Kock, A Purves, BM Dyer, M Masotla, L Upfold, and RJM Crawford
Abstract:
Twelve seabird species have bred around the coastline of False Bay in South Africa’s Western Cape. They are: African Penguin (Sphenis-
cus demersus), Great White Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus), Cape Gannet (Morus capensis), Cape Cormorant (Phalacrocorax capen-
sis), Bank Cormorant (P. neglectus), White-breasted Cormorant (P. lucidus), Crowned Cormorant (Microcarbo coronatus), Kelp Gull (Larus
dominicanus), Hartlaub’s Gull (Chroicocephalus hartlaubii), Grey-headed Gull (C. cirrocephalus), Greater Crested Tern (Thalasseus ber-
gii) and Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia). Breeding occurred at 16 localities. The mainland penguin colony at Boulders, Simon’s Town
was initiated in 1985, grew rapidly, held > 500 pairs from 1997 onwards and became a popular tourist attraction. Great White Pelican and
Cape Gannet used to breed at Seal Island but no longer do. A large herd of Cape Fur Seal (Arctocephalus pusillus pusillus) at the island
led to displacement of pelicans and has brought about decreases in numbers of African Penguin and Bank Cormorant.

Introduction:
Twelve seabird species have bred around the coastline of False Bay in South Africa’s Western Cape. They are: African Penguin (Sphenis-
cus demersus), Great White Pelican (Pelecanus onocrotalus), Cape Gannet (Morus capensis), Cape Cormorant (Phalacrocorax capen-
sis), Bank Cormorant (P. neglectus), White-breasted Cormorant (P. lucidus), Crowned Cormorant (Microcarbo coronatus), Kelp Gull (Larus
dominicanus), Hartlaub’s Gull (Chroicocephalus hartlaubii), Grey-headed Gull (C. cirrocephalus), Greater Crested Tern (Thalasseus ber-
gii) and Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia).
Breeding occurred at 16 localities, which are shown on Figure 1 and briefly described below. For each site, records of breeding by the
different species were collated for all years having information. For years with multiple counts, the highest count was shown; ‘√’ signifies
that breeding occurred at a locality but the numbers were not ascertained and ‘?’ that breeding may have occurred but was not confirmed.
A short summary of methods used to obtain the estimates of numbers breeding is given in the chapter ‘Introduction to Seabird Breeding
Localities’.
Since the 1970s no purse-seine fishing of sardine (Sardinops sagax) and anchovy (Enchrasicolus capensis), staple foods of African
Penguin, Cape Gannet, Cape Cormorant and Greater Crested Tern, was allowed in False Bay. The Table Mountain National Park Marine
Protected Area extends around the Cape Peninsula. It contains several restricted / “no take” zones, including at Boulders, Simon’s Town.
The mainland penguin colony at Boulders was initiated in 1985. The penguins adapted to a suburban environment and became a valuable
and popular tourist attraction, allowing close interaction with humans.
In 1998, both False Bay and Boulders Beach, within it, were considered to be Globally Important Bird Areas (IBAs, Barnes 1998). In
2015, False Bay Nature Reserve, which included Rondevlei and Strandfontein Sewage Works, and Boulders Beach were identified as
global IBAs (Marnewick et al. 2015).
Sources of information: The estimates of numbers of White-
seabirds breeding at the 16 localities were from the follow- Year Cape Cormorant breasted Kelp Gull
ing sources: African Penguin (Shelton et al. 1984, Under- Cormorant
hill et al. 2006, Crawford et al. 2011, 2013a, Sherley et al. 1906 √
2020); Great White Pelican (Crawford et al. 1995); Cape 1959 80
Gannet (Crawford et al. 1983); Cape Cormorant (Cooper et 1963 75
al. 1982, Crawford et al. 2016); Bank Cormorant (Cooper 1973 100
1981, Crawford et al. 1999, 2008); White-breasted Cormo- 1980 634 70
rant (Brooke et al. 1982, Crawford et al. 2013b); Crowned
Cormorant (Crawford et al. 1982b, 2012); Kelp Gull (Craw- 1981 643 29
ford et al. 1982a, Whittington et al. 2016); Hartlaub’s Gull 1984 50
(Williams et al. 1990, Crawford et al. 2007); Grey-headed 1985 101
Gull (Brooke et al. 1999, McInnes and Allan 2011); Greater 1986 29
Crested Tern (Cooper et al. 1990, Crawford 2009); and 2003 10
Caspian Tern (Cooper et al. 1992). These observations 2004 35
were updated by unpublished records of South Africa’s 2011 0
Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment 2012 0
(DFFE). 2015 956 31 1
2016 500 1
Cape Point 2020 906 22
Coordinates: 34.3575 S; 18.4971 E
Description: Cliffs and ledges at the south of Cape Point. Batsata Cove
Conservation status: It is within Table Mountain National Coordinates: 34.2776 S; 18.4748 E
Park. Description: A cliff on the cove opposite Batsata Rock,
Species and numbers breeding: Three species of seabird which is washed by moderate swells.
have bred at Cape Point. Their numbers (pairs) are shown Conservation status: It is within Table Mountain National
on the following table. Maxima observed were 956 pairs of Park.
Cape Cormorant in 2015, 101 pairs of White-breasted Cor- Species and numbers breeding: Cape Cormorants have
morant in 1985 and one pair of Kelp Gull in 2015 and 2016. bred at Batsata Cove; numbers of pairs are given on the
following table.

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