Penguins are vulnerable to exposure to oil spills due to their site fidelity, aquatic lifestyle and near-surface foraging habits. Across their range, penguins have been impacted by chronic and acute oil pollution at sea. The following list includes examples of events where impacts to penguins were documented. It is not exhaustive. {, class="wikitable" , + !Year !Country !Location !Origin !Species !Notes !References , - , 1925 ,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, Port Phillip Bay, Victoria , Unknown , Little , "A number" of oiled penguins ashore and some dead. , , - , 1934 , New Zealand , Kapiti Island, Manuwatu beaches , Unknown , Little , “Many” penguins killed and oiled. , , - , 1936 , South Africa , Cape Town , Unknown , African , One bird oiled. , , - , 1940 , New Zealand , Auckland , Unknown , Little , Hundreds of penguins oiled and killed. , , - , 1945 , Australia ,

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, New South Wales , Unknown , Little , Single penguin captured and treated. , , - , 1946 , Australia , Port Phillip Bay, Victoria , Unknown , Little , “Many” penguins killed and oiled. , , - , 1948 , South Africa , Dyer Island , ''Esso Wheeling'' oil spill , African , One third of penguin population, “thousands” oiled and killed. , , - , 1952 , South Africa , Robben Island, Table Bay , Unknown , African , Over 1200 oiled penguins came ashore. , , - , 1953 , South Africa , Table Bay , ''Sliedrecht'' oil spill , African , Penguins oiled and killed. , , - , 1954 , Australia , Port Phillip Bay, Victoria , Unknown , Little , 36 penguins oiled. , , - , 1954 , Australia , Port Phillip Bay, Victoria , Unknown , Little , “large numbers” of dead and oiled birds ashore , , - , 1968 , South Africa , Cape Point, Western Cape , ''Esso Essen'' oil spill , African , Over 1700 penguins impacted by oil. , , - , 1971 , Australia ,

Cowes Cowes () is an English seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked by the Cowes Floa ...

, Victoria , Unknown , Little , 43 oiled, dying penguins found. , , - , 1971 , Australia , South-eastern South Australia , Unknown , Little , "Hundreds" oiled coming ashore. , , - , 1971 , South Africa , Cape Aghulas & Dyer Island , SS ''Wafra'' oil spill , African , Over 1216 penguins oiled. , , - , 1972 , South Africa , Dassen Island , Unknown , African , 4000 penguins impacted. , , - , 1972 , South Africa , Ystervark Point , ''Oswego Guardian-Texanita'' collision , African , 500 penguins impacted. , , - , 1973 , Chile ,

Guamblin Island __FORCETOC__ Guamblin Island, also known as Socorro Island, Nuestra Señora del Socorro, or Huamblin, is a Chilean island located in the Pacific Ocean. The island is designated as a National Park and is recognized as an Important Bird Area due t ...

, ''Napier'' oil spill , Magellanic , Impacts unknown. Penguins in vicinity. , , - , 1974 , Chile ,

Strait of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural pass ...

, VLCC ''Metula'' oil spill , Magellanic , 40,000 birds oiled. Mostly cormorants and penguins. , , - , 1974 , Australia , Port Campbell, Victoria , Unknown , Little , "Numbers" of penguins oiled. , , - , 1974 , South Africa , Struisbaii, Western Cape , ''Oriental Pioneer'' (tanker) , African , Several thousand penguins oiled. , , - , 1978 , Chile , San Vincente Bay , ''Cabo Tamar'' oil spill ,

Humboldt Humboldt may refer to: People * Alexander von Humboldt, German natural scientist, brother of Wilhelm von Humboldt * Wilhelm von Humboldt, German linguist, philosopher, and diplomat, brother of Alexander von Humboldt Fictional characters * ...

, Magellanic , Impacts unknown, penguins in area. , , - , 1979 , South Africa , St. Croix Island,

Algoa Bay Algoa Bay is a maritime bay in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is located in the east coast, east of the Cape of Good Hope. Algoa Bay is bounded in the west by Cape Recife and in the east by Cape Padrone. The bay is up to deep. The harbour c ...

, Unknown , African , Penguins collected to prevent harm. , , - , 1981 , Argentina , Bahia Bustamante , Unknown , Magellanic , Dead penguins found, but ecological impact not studied. , , - , 1982 , Argentina , Punta Tombo , Unknown , Magellanic , 500 oiled penguins found. , , - , 1985 , South Africa , Cape Recife , ''Kapodistrias'' oil spill , , Over 1180 penguins impacted, 137 killed. , , - , 1987 , Australia , Macquarie Island , ''Nella Dan'' supply ship wreck , Royal, King, Southern rockhopper, Gentoo , 70 tonnes of light fuel oil lost, ecological damage unknown. , , - , 1987 , Chile , Punta Davis, Strait of Magellan , ''Cabo Pilar'' oil spill , , 4900 tonnes crude spilled, penguin impacts unknown. , , - , 1988 , Australia ,

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, Victoria , ? , Little , 40% of a small colony oiled and killed (100 birds). , , - , 1989 , Argentina ,

Bismarck Strait The Bismarck Strait is a channel in Antarctica. It is located between the southern end of Anvers and Wiencke Islands and the Wilhelm Archipelago. It was surveyed in 1874 by First Antarctic German expedition under Captain Eduard Dallmann. This ch ...

, Antarctica , ''Bahia Paraiso'' oil spill , Several, including Adelie , 20,000-30,000 penguins swam through slick, toll unclear owing to 3 year migration pattern, 300 Adelie penguins known to have been killed. , , - , 1990 , Australia , Apollo Bay, Cape Otway , Tanker ''Arthur Phillip'' , Little , 130 collected alive, only 65 survived. Over 200 dead, estimates up to 700 dead. , , - , 1991 , Argentina , Chubut Province , Unknown , Magellanic , An estimated 17,000 penguins killed. , , - , 1991 , Chile , Punta Tombo , Unknown , Magellanic , Estimated 16,000-17,000 dead penguins found. More expected to have died at sea. , , - , 1994 , South Africa , Dassen Island , ''

Apollo Sea The MV ''Apollo Sea'' was a Chinese-owned, Panamanian-registered bulk carrier which sank near Cape Town in June 1994. Leaking oil from the sunken vessel caused a major environmental disaster which resulted in the death of thousands of seabirds, ...

'' , African , 10,000 penguins collected and cleaned, half of which survived. , , - , 1995 , Australia , Low Head, Tasmania , MV ''Iron Baron'' , Little , An estimated 25,000 penguins died from spill impacts. , , - , 1995 , Australia ,

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterwa ...

, Unknown , Little , 13 oiled penguins. , , - , 1995 , South Africa , off

Danger Point Danger Point is a coastal feature and cliff face in Devon (England), Devon, on the south coast of England. It is about southeast of the city of Exeter and about east of Exmouth, Devon, Exmouth and lies between the towns of Budleigh Salterton a ...

, Unknown , African , 1332 penguins. , , - , 1998 , South Africa , Cape Town , Harbor pipeline burst , African , 563 penguins. , , - , 1998 , United Kingdom , Falkland Islands , Oil exploration spills , Magellanic , Killed several hundred penguins. , , - , 1999 , Australia , Gore Bay, Sydney, New South Wales , Shell tanker , Little , Several birds oiled, five were captured, cleaned and released. , , - , 2000 , Australia , Between Summerland Bay and The Nobbies, Phillip Island, Victoria , Unknown , Little , 9 killed, 164 more oiled and treated. , , - , 2000 , Chile , Cifuncho, Antofagasta , ''La Moure County'' (US Navy vessel) , Humboldt , 80-120,000 gallons of diesel lost. Penguin impacts unknown. , , - , 2000 , South Africa , Robben Island & Dassen Island , MV ''Treasure'' oil spill , African , 19000 oiled and an additional 19500 removed. Less than 2000 died. 91% rehabilitation success. , , - , 2001 , Chile , Moraleda Channel , ''Jose Fuchs'' , Magellanic , 150 tonnes crude oil spilled. , , - , 2001 , Australia , Victoria , , Little , 438 penguins treated with a 96% survival rate. , , - , 2004 , Chile , Primera Angostura, Magellan Strait , Tanker ''Berge Nice'' collision with tugboat , , 160 tonnes of oil spilled. Unknown number of penguins impacted. , , - , 2005 , Chile , Antofagasta , ''Eider'' cargo ship grounded , Humboldt , Penguins impacted. , , - , 2006 , Argentina , Near Cabo Virgenes, south Patagonia , Unknown , Magellanic , 100 oiled penguins found. An estimated 400 were oiled. , , - , 2007 , Argentina , Caleta Cordova, Chubut , Oil terminal spill , Magellanic , Over 1500 penguins impacted. , , - , 2009 , Australia ,

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

/ Robe, South Australia , Unknown , Little , 7 penguins oiled and treated. , , - , 2008 , Uruguay ,

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, Tanker ''Syros'' oil spill , Magellanic , At least 72 penguins oiled and killed , , - , 2011 , New Zealand , Tauranga , ''Rena'' oil spill , Little , 20,000 seabirds (including penguins) killed by spill and ecosystem impacts. 383 were successfully cleaned and released. , , - , 2011 , United Kingdom , Tristan da Cunha islands , MS ''Oliva'' , Rockhopper , 20,000 penguins oiled, 4,000 relocated to Tristan da Cunha. "Thousands" more died. , , - , 2015-2016 , Chile , near Cachagua , , Humboldt , Penguin colony threatened by two oil spills during this period. , , - , 2016 , South Africa , Port of Ngqura , Bunkering , African , 100 oiled penguins were treated. , , - , 2019 , South Africa , Port of Ngqura , Bunkering , African , Hundreds of penguins were harmed in minor spill. , , - , 2022 , Peru , Lima , Repsol refinery , Humboldt , Penguins and other seabirds oiled. Some rescued and cleaned. , {{Cite web , date=2022-02-11 , title=Calif. wildlife team rescues penguins from Peru oil spill , url=https://www.kron4.com/news/california/calif-wildlife-team-rescues-penguins-from-peru-oil-spill/ , access-date=2022-10-26 , website=KRON4 , language=en-US

References

Oil spills Penguins Environmental disasters