Landau, Dezember 8, 2024

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+++Winners of the literary competition at the feminist book fair+++
The winners of the literary competition “Humboldt Archipelago with 110 Words” presented their prize-winning stories at the 5th Feminist Book Fair in La Serena and met with great response.

The book fair was organized by the feminist book network of the Coquimbo region and took place on 4 October in the San Francisco square in La Serena. At twelve stands, book and music publishers presented their products, organized author rounds and - as mentioned - offered space for the works of the winners of the “Humboldt Archipelago in 110 Words” competition to be presented. Nancy Duman from Sphenisco-Chile completed the presentations with a report on the process and significance of the competition.

La Higuera, Landau, 9th of November 2024: La Higuera has voted. On 27th of October, municipal and gubernatorial elections were held in the small municipality (4,285 inhabitants), as in the rest of Chile. Mayors, municipal councillors, governors and regional councillors were elected - comparable to municipal councillors at regional level only.

Landau, 6th of October 2024

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+++Video podcast “Sintonia Humboldt ”+++
The second season of the weekly video podcast “Sintonía Humboldt” has been running since August 12 (see article Second season of the video podcast “Sintonía Humboldt” launched). The following topics were discussed and debated in the podcast in August and September:
12th of August
“Multi-use Marine Protected Area in the Humboldt Archipelago (AMCP-MU)” with Leonardo Gros, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Environment, Coquimbo Region.

Landau, 7. August 2024

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+++El Niño Prevents Research+++
At the beginning of July, the New Zealand researcher Thomas Mattern wanted to travel to Chile to continue his investigations into the penguins search for food on the islands of Choros and Cachagua. In mid-June, the head of the research project, Dr. Alejandro Simeone, informed us: "We are back from the breeding islands. Unfortunately, I have to confirm that there are no Humboldt penguins breeding at the moment, neither on the island of Cachagua nor on the island of Choros. I suspect that El Niño still has a strong effect on the productivity of the sea and therefore there is no food available for the penguins.

Landau, 6. June 2024

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+++Symbolic Bird of the Humboldt Current+++
Just in time for World Penguin Day on April 25th, Sphenisco-Chile and RedAves, together with ACOREMA and GAP in Peru, started the signature campaign "Humboldt Penguin - Symbolic Bird of the Humboldt Current". The aim of the initiative is to motivate citizens, civil society groups and authorities to publicly advocate for the protection of the Humboldt penguin and to become active. 

Coquimbo, Chile; Pisco, Peru; Landau, Germany April 25, 2024.

Good News for Sphenisco on the World Penguin Day.

In Chile, the newspaper El Norte reports that the Humboldt Penguin has been declared the “symbolic bird of the Humboldt Current”. In Fort Lambert (Coquimbo) representatives of authorities and organizations from science and civil society met to proclaim the endangered Humboldt Penguin the “symbol bird of the important marine ecosystem of the Humboldt Current”. 

Burnie, Nuremberg, 10 February 2024

In January of this year, we were working as volunteers for the Penguin Rehab & Release (https://www.penguinrehab.org/) Sanctuary in Burnie, Tasmania.

Penguin Rehab and Release is the only facility in North West Tasmania dedicated to the rehabilitation of penguins (and other seabirds) who come into their care due to illness, injury or exhaustion, with the aim of preparing them for a successful release.

This year has been an above-average busy season for Penguin Rehab and Release, in which 33 penguins have already been successfully cared for, overseen and released back into their natural habitat. Currently, 16 penguins are still being cared for at the facility in order to regain their health and the strength for their release. Caring for such a large number of penguins is not only time-consuming, but also costly, and the organization's resources are currently almost exhausted.

The following article is therefore not only intended to report on our experiences in the care and reintroduction of sick, injured or exhausted penguins, but is also connected with the request for donations for this organization and its highly commendable work. Donations can be made by PayPal via the following link: Donate (PayPal)

Landau, 4th February 2024

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+++Loser of the year 2023+++
Humboldt penguins in Chile and Peru have been suffering from bird flu and El Niño for months. According to the WWF, they are therefore among the losers of 2023. Sernapesca (Chilean fishing authority) reported the discovery of 3,000 dead animals in November. This corresponds to around one third of the population. In view of this horror story, it is comforting that Humboldt penguins have the ability to reproduce more strongly after such disasters. In Peru they breed all year round, in Chile not just twice as usual, but three times. It is currently unclear what the current losses mean for the survival of this penguin species.

La Serena 8th December 2023. At the beginning of November, fishermen's and environmental organizations (1) from the coastal villages of the municipality of La Higuera, together with Alianza Humboldt, hosted an event on "the community for the Humboldt Archipelago Marine Protected Area with different uses". The aim of the small conference was to discuss the role and responsibility of citizens in the upcoming design of the Marine Conservation Zone (AMCP-MU). Representatives of fishermen, environmental organizations, water committees and the indigenous Changos community (1) were invited. Around 40 people took part and the event was sponsored by the Bergzoo in Halle.