African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary - APSS

Dyer Island is widely accepted as one of the most important coastal island systems in South Africa and is internationally recognized as an IBA (Important Bird Area). Throughout the year, Dyer Island hosts over 29 species of seabirds, many threatened or endangered, and contains one of the last strongholds of the endangered African penguin.

As a result of over fishing, by-catch and oil pollution, the population for many of these African endemic species of seabird is at an all time low, and their slow rate of breeding means that their numbers are struggling to compensate.

The African Penguin and Seabird Sanctuary (APSS) was founded by The Dyer Island Conservation Trust (www.DICT.org) to address these issues directly. It is our goal, and the goal of our partners and supporters, to create a first-of-its-kind facility that will restore the balance of this incredible area by rescuing, researching, and rehabilitating these unique marine species, while educating passionate individuals on how their choice can make a difference.

The facility will be based in Gansbaai, a town that is world famous for being the great white shark capital of the world and sees hundreds of thousands of visitors per year, and will provide the following innovative services:

- Serve as a center for the community to report injured seabirds.
- House the facilities and staff trained in animal rehabilitation
- Perform critical research on local seabirds.
- Educate local people and tourists on environmental conservation.
- House and protect penguins that can't be in the wild.
- Release rehabilitated seabirds back to their original capture sites.