Every year HSBC Bank offers an Employee Environmental Fellowship to 500 employees from around the world, in the countries where it operates. Employees chosen for the Fellowship, a $50 million programme organised by Earthwatch, are involved in scientific research around the world. Through this Fellowship, HSBC is contributing towards conservation projects which otherwise would not run. The Malta Independent meets up with Rosalie Gauci, one of the participants of this year’s EarthwatchAfter four years of toying with the idea of applying for a place on an Earthwatch project and pestering colleagues who had already gone through with the experience, I finally took the plunge. Soon after, I learnt that I was being sent to Robben Island in South Africa for two weeks, to help in the study of South African penguins. I couldn’t have been happier.

I landed in Cape Town on a cold and wet Sunday and met up with the other volunteers over lunch the next day. Leaving Cape Town behind, we docked in tiny Murray’s Harbour on Robben Island and soon settled into a simple but comfortable house, formerly occupied by prison staff.

Robben Island is a living museum and is infamous as a former incarceration site for political prisoners held under apartheid laws. Nowadays visitors can only stay on the island for about four hours, when they take a tour to visit the maximum-security prison. Being able to actually stay on the island for ten days was a real privilege.

The island is a hot spot for seabird biodiversity including threatened bank cormorants, African black oyster-catchers and, of course, penguins. The island lies in the middle of major shipping lanes so the risk of oil spills harming the fauna and flora of the island is high and their future is by no means assured.

The African penguin is the only penguin species that breeds in Africa. It is sometimes called the Jackass penguin, as its call resembles a donkey’s bray. African penguins are about 60cm in length, and weigh between 2.4 and 3.6 kg with males tending to be larger than females. They feed primarily on shoaling pelagic fish such as anchovies, sardines, mackerel and herrings. They start breeding from between two to six years of age.

The African penguin breeds colonially, mostly on rocky offshore islands, either nesting in burrows they excavate themselves, or in depressions under boulders or bushes. Shelter at the nest site is important to provide shade and for protection against predators of eggs and chicks. African Penguins are monogamous, and the same pair will generally return to the same colony, and often the same nest site each year. They usually lay two eggs, although it is not common for both of the chicks to survive.

The incubation period is about 40 days, with the male and female participating equally in the incubation duties. Both parents continue to brood the chicks for about the first 15 days. After this, the chicks attain full control over their body temperature, and no longer need heat from their parents. However, the chicks are still at risk from predators, and the adults continue to guard the chicks until they are about 30 days old.

Often referred to as the planet’s most charismatic creatures, most of the 17 penguin species of the planet are in decline. There are about 56,000 breeding pairs of African penguins worldwide and they are listed as “vulnerable”. The major current threats include competition with commercial fisheries and oil pollution. Other threats include competition with Cape fur seals for space at breeding colonies and for food resources, as well as predation by seals. Feral cats pose a problem on Robben Island, and African penguins also face preying on eggs and chicks by avian predators.

My work as a volunteer was to help out experienced researchers in carrying out field tests and penguin monitoring. These tests are a joint project of the Physics Department of the University of Bristol, the Avian Demography Unit of the University of Cape Town, the Robben Island Museum and the Marine and Coastal Management Unit of the South African Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.

The demographic studies rely on the use of leg bands to identify individual birds and these studies form a key component of improving their conservation status by providing an understanding of movements and survival rates. In the case of penguins, leg bands are impractical so most of the studies used to use stainless steel bands fixed around the top of the flipper. These metal bands are also difficult to read in the field so new bands made of rubber have been developed at the University of Bristol.

During the 10-day expedition our work consisted mainly of checking nests which were marked for study by the previous two Earthwatch teams and which showed a potential for breeding – meaning that these nests would allow us to see the development of a bird from an egg to a fledged chick. Ultimately this would give us an indication of the breeding success of the study nests.

We had to record the number of birds in each nest (sometimes the nests were abandoned or had abandoned eggs), whether the birds were banded or unbanded and the size of the chicks. We quickly came to realise that although the penguins looked cute and cuddly, they were very protective of their young and could turn vicious when we got too close; the upper part of the beak is hooked while the cross section of lower part is v-shaped.

Another job was the monitoring of penguin crossings during which we were stationed by the roadside for two hours at a time to record penguin numbers moving in both coastal and inland directions. The data would be added to a road count census to inform the island management about movements in relation to traffic, with a view to minimising human/wildlife conflict. The research undertaken by previous Earthwatch teams has already resulted in the introduction of penguin crossing signage in significant locations around the island.

Another of our tasks was counting the number of game which entailed driving around the island to conduct a census of large mammals, including springbok, bontebok, steenbok, fallow deer, ostrich and loads of rabbits. The island is also home to a sole eland, a two-metre tall African antelope species.

A very important job was cleaning up stretches of beach – picking up anything that is washed ashore which can be harmful to the penguins and other birds. We came away with an average of eight garbage bags each time, filled with all sorts of rubbish including plastic bottles, fishing lines, plastic wrappers, rubber sheeting, metal cans and even a wetsuit and flippers. Unfortunately we also found dead penguins and shore birds, which had either been attacked by other animals or become entangled in fishing lines.

Another of our duties was the re-sighting of birds – looking out for banded birds making their way out of the water. This is mainly done so that the Avian Demography Unit can keep track of the banded bird population thus giving them an idea of the total number of birds, their lifespan and the movement of the birds from different areas or colonies.

Thanks to HSBC and Earthwatch, I have had the amazing experience of being involved in scientific field research and to do my bit, albeit small, in making our world a better place to live in.