Pick Up A Penguin!
By Paul Homewood
Apparently the Royal Navy has nothing better to do!
The Royal Navy has made a "hazardous" trip to "one of the most remote places on earth" to help scientists study shrinking penguin populations.
Research ship HMS Protector is studying colonies of the birds in the South Sandwich Islands – so off the beaten track even the Royal Navy only calls in once a decade.
Described by the Royal Navy as “one of the most remote places on earth,” the chain of islands lie more than 1,300 miles east of the Falklands and are home to around three million of the flightless birds.
By landing on the uninhabited islands, recording the penguins and using drones, scientists hope for a better understanding of the impact of climate change and other environmental factors on the colonies.
Captain Michael Wood, HMS Protector’s Commanding Officer, said: “Visits by ships to these territories are exceptionally infrequent and hazardous".
The islands, which are sovereign UK Overseas Territories, are thought to be home to 1.3 million breeding pairs of chinstrap penguins, nearly half the world’s population.
They live alongside around 95,000 breeding pairs of macaroni penguins and several thousand pairs of gentoo penguins.
Despite being at the northern edge of their breeding range, an unexpectedly large population of Adélie penguins (about 125,000 pairs) also live there.
The populations have fluctuated in recent decades.
Resurgent whale and fur seal numbers eating the krill in the ocean upon which many penguins rely were initially thought to be the cause, following bans on whaling and overfishing.
However, more recent scientific thinking puts the shrinking numbers down to climate change, melting sea ice and rising temperatures.
Dr Tom Hart, of the Department of Zoology at Oxford University, said: “The more data we get on these islands, the more we are able to disentangle the effects of climate change versus eruptions.
In reality, Chinstrap Penguins are thriving around Antarctica, where there are estimated to be 12 to 13 million of the little blighters. On the IUCN red list, they are classified as Least Concern.
According to National Geographic, long term population trends are stable, with a mid 20thC rise due to the prior rise in seal and whale hunting, and a slight drop since as these have ended:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/facts/chinstrap-penguin
However, krill is the critical element in the life cycles of all penguins. Although in theory fishing of krill is supposed to be done sustainably, there are concerns that industrial fishing of krill is now a serious threat:
Industrial fishing for krill in the pristine waters around Antarctica is threatening the future of one of the world’s last great wildernesses, according to a new report.
The study by Greenpeace analysed the movements of krill fishing vessels in the region and found they were increasingly operating “in the immediate vicinity of penguin colonies and whale feeding grounds”.
It also highlights incidents of fishing boats being involved in groundings, oil spills and accidents, which it said posed a serious threat to the Antarctic ecosystem.
The report, published on Tuesday, comes amid growing concern about the impact of fishing and climate change on the Antarctic. A global campaign has been launched to create a network of ocean sanctuaries to protect the seas in the region and Greenpeace is calling for an immediate halt to fishing in areas being considered for sanctuary status…
There is a growing global demand for krill-based health products which are claimed to help with a range of ailments from heart disease to high blood pressure, strokes and depression.
A recent analysis of the global krill industry predicted it was on course to grow 12% a year over the next three years.
Krill populations have declined by 80% since the 1970s. Global warming has been blamed partly because the ice that is home to the algae and plankton on which krill feed is retreating.
However, campaigners say recent developments in fishing technology are exacerbating the problem.
Naturally, of course, Greenpeace/Guardian also blame “climate change” for reducing krill populations, because of “retreating sea ice”. Despite the fact that sea ice extent around Antarctica has remained stable since the 1980s:
https://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/bist
Instead of trying to count millions of penguins, maybe the Royal Navy should be stopping illegal fishing.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Desperately scouring the planet to find “proof” of some disaster or other.
The hypocrites at Greenpeace need fossil-fuel propelled boats and fossil fuels to keep crews and its tourist passengers toastie warm & comfortable in that freezing environment.
Maybe the Royal Navy should be protecting the UK borders and repelling the invasion fleets in the Channel. Drive the invaders back to France, and if they prefer to swim, then let them swim back.
It would have been quite good if the Royal Navy had noticed that Argentina had constructed and was maintaining a naval base on Thule Island 1976-1982. Perhaps visit more often than every decade?
But I’m sure that the South Sandwich Islands would be a good place to process “refugees” who have accidentally mislaid all their papers before Border Farce and the RNLI kindly decided to aid and abet people smugglers by providing a comfortable ferry service to the Kent Coast.
After all, let’s not forget that South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands were amongst a dozen ‘Green Zone” tourist destinations our own Beloved Leaders identified for British holidaymakers, earlier this year. So I’m sure it would be ideal for the bearded schoolchildren who arrive in Dover.
Many active volcanoes, including one of the six (?) known permanent lava lakes at Mount Michael stratovolcano on Saunders Island should keep them toasty (and Zero Carbon!)
As for Krill, I impatiently look forward to WWF giving us all a chance to ‘Adopt a Cuddly Krill’ and help save the Planet!
now thats an idea … but dont tell the economic migrants waiting in Calais. Dress up in a Pingu outfit and get the Navy to pick you up (given that the RNLI already have their hands full acting as a taxi service).
Oh . and on a different theme, apparently the National Trust talking bollox again. “Autumn colours could be cut short as climate change causes leaves to turn and drop earlier and more quickly, the National Trust has said in its annual review of nature in the UK.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/environment/2021/12/27/autumn-colours-cut-short-climate-change-altering-landscapes/
The Telegraphs “environment Correspondent” acting as a PR outlet
Note – re National Trust .. BBC 1pm news (1.14). Justin Rowlatt doing piece on the NT report with lots of shots of weather events and lots of references to climate change etc etc . the usual BBC bull
Maybe you missed the part that described HMS Protector as a research vessel?
Criminal overfishing is a serious problem for the planet and humanity. Nobody in their right mind would tolerate drift net fishing. Everybody in their right mind should be concerned about its prevalence and its destructive consequences.
I know that many people on this board will dismiss such concerns because they don’t like the people who are campaigning about the issue (with good reason) but that doesn’t mean there is no reason for concern about the issue.
Greenpeace has no standing. With good reason. I have no concern for anything they run up the flag. With good reason.
That they say it is an issue doesn’t make it an issue, especially one of concern. With good reason.
Why do you abandon reason?
This would be the same Greenpeace who abandoned their aging Rainbow Warrior ship on a Bangladeshi beach to be carved up and junked. They later claimed it was a “mistake”, because they were found out. Charlatans all!
Aha! Tax money hard at work, makes you weep don’t it?
With their endless and false assumptions that humanity is the cause of all the changes in the natural world, Greenpeace, because of their wealth, are becoming more and more influential to the detriment of us all, Blaming a few fishing boats for upsetting the increasing population of penguins, which are known to be increasing in their population, and taking a miniscule amount of Krill from the Antarctic as upsetting the local eco system is utterly ridiculous. They are becoming increasingly political in their activities and should be stopped before they gain more power over countries and governments across the world. We should stop funding them and thus reduce their ability to cover the cost of so many silly so called research projects such as this one, which they carry out in order to stimulate more donations from the public.
Everything the human hating Gweenpeeth does is a publicity stunt aimed at getting MORE money and influence. They are already a political party, just more unelected shouty little people with bigger toys than their abilities deserve.
“The Royal Navy has nothing better to do” is a rather fatuous comment. HMS Protector is the Navy’s ice patrol ship and this is the sort of thing it is designed to do
At an average temperature of, what, -20ºC the pingoos are going to notice a 1ºC rise in temperatures?
Give me a break.
Sounds like a very sensible thing for the RN to be doing. Training, team building, and maintaining our presence there.
They could do it cheaper, and to more benefit, on the beaches of Normandy
I read recently that the ‘base’ for HMS Protector is South Georgia, for reasons you can guess. Penguin surveys help to combat the boredom and add a small green credit to the Navy’s account.
‘industrial fishing of krill’
That’s overkrill.
That’s MY tax money being wasted chasing the end of the ‘climate change’ rainbow!
Perhaps patrolling the English Channel World be a more useful ‘mission’.
Republican National Socialists want men with guns to force women to reproduce by involuntary servitude to mystical race suicide ideologies. Meanwhile 5th-column international socialists seek to ban energy, food and take-home pay. If only there were an individualist party to vote for and send that clear message to the messianic looter parties…
I hope they sent a correctly diverse group of people and also checked to see the penguins were behaving diversely and correctly because if not they should suffer the consequences.