Image copyright BBC/Shutterstock Image caption It is the second catastrophic season for the southern penguins in five years
All but two Adelie penguin chicks have starved to death in their east Antarctic colony, in a breeding season described as "catastrophic" by experts.
It was caused by unusually high amounts of ice late in the season, meaning adults had to travel further for food.
It is the second bad season in five years after no chicks survived in 2015.
Conservation groups are calling for urgent action on a new marine protection area in the east Antarctic to protect the colony of about 36,000.
WWF says a ban on krill fishing in the area would eliminate their competition and help to secure the survival of Antarctic species, including the Adelie penguins.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Adelie penguins pictured at the French monitoring station in Dumont d'Urville in east Antarctica
WWF have been supporting research with French scientists in the region monitoring penguin numbers since 2010.
The protection proposal will be discussed at a meeting on Monday of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR).
The Commission is made up of the 25 members and the European Union.
Adelie penguins are the most southerly breeding bird in the world.
They are found along the Antarctic coast, and breed from October to February
They typically lay two eggs in nests made of stones, and parents take turns to incubate the eggs
Breeding adults may have to travel up to 30-75 miles (50-120 km) to catch food to then regurgitate for their chicks
"This devastating event contrasts with the image that many people might have of penguins," Rod Downie, Head of Polar Programmes at WWF, said.
"The risk of opening up this area to exploratory krill fisheries, which would compete with the Adelie penguins for food as they recover from two catastrophic breeding failures in four years, is unthinkable.
"So CCAMLR needs to act now by adopting a new Marine Protected Area for the waters off east Antarctica, to protect the home of the penguins."
nlane515 on October 14th, 2017 at 15:58 UTC »
oh boy, my time to shine. Not a penguin, but I am a lobsterman and have to deal with seagulls all the time. Anyways, I have been doing it for 5 or 6 years now and last year the company that provides our entire port with bait for our traps changed the type of bait they buy after it had stayed the same for as long as I can remember. I remember it being the same even when I was a kid 8 or 9 years ago. For nearly the totality of the company's existence, the company sold us herring, but now they sell us the detached heads or Acadian redfish from Icelandic waters. The problem is that seagulls love herring, its gummy and soft and the bones are thin and also soft, compared the the 90% bone skull of the Acadian redfish. The only thing the seagulls can eat out of these heads are the fish's eyes. This has, by definition, decimated the seagull population. Before there would be a crowd of over 30 seagulls. At the start of this summer, at least we would have 3 or 4. Now, in October, we are lucky to have 2. Also I just found out that Acadian redfish are endangered and are likely to go extinct. It is hard to believe we can be this wasteful. We are sending a species towards extinction and destroying the local population of another and can't even use the body of the Acadian redfish. I'm not even an environmentalist and I can see this is awful. There just isn't any reason for it.
RealStevenSeagal on October 14th, 2017 at 14:09 UTC »
We need to stop fucking with their food.
Lepidoptera3 on October 14th, 2017 at 13:38 UTC »
This is their second catastrophic breeding season in a short period of time. No chicks survived in 2015.
A lot of aquatic birds are struggling due to overfishing and having to compete with the growing fishing industry, which can often be the tipping point if they come under stress from another cause, such as the high ice levels this year.