TOURIST INFLUX NEXT CHALLENGE FOR PENGUINS
GRANITE Island’s little penguin population could be on a slow road to recovery, population data shows.
A Flinders University population census this month for the island, about 80km south of Adelaide, found 20 adult penguins on the island, up slightly on last year’s 16 animals.
Diane Colombelli-Negrel, who leads the census, said the next challenge was the extra tourists likely to visit the area when the $43m Granite Island causeway opened, which is expected to be by January.
“We’ll have to see when the causeway opens how that’s going to increase the numbers of people and potentially increase the disturbance,” Dr Colombelli-Negrel said.
“We’re happy that the (penguin) numbers are not further down this year. There’s hope for the future but we have to be cautious to make sure that we don’t relax and assume everything is fine.”
She wants measures in place to stop people entering the areas where penguins have burrows at night time, during the breeding and nesting season.