The Dyer Island Conservation Trust (DICT) is a South African nonprofit founded in 2006 by Wilfred Chivell to protect the marine ecosystem around Dyer Island, near Gansbaai — home to one of the world’s most important African penguin colonies and a dense population of great white sharks.
- Location: Western Cape, South Africa
- Founded: 2006 by Wilfred Chivell
- Species: African penguin, Humpback dolphin, Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin, Southern Right whale, great white shark, Cape fur seal, Abalone, Cape Cormorant, Bank Cormorant, Crowned Cormorant, White-breasted Cormorant.
What is the Dyer Island Conservation Trust?
Dyer Island Conservation Trust is a non-profit organization that preserves Dyer Island and Dyer Island Marine Protected Area as an example of healthy, unspoiled coastal biodiversity for the benefit and enjoyment of future generations.
Dyer Island Conservation Trust works in close partnership to achieve its goals: protecting Dyer Island and the Dyer Island Marine Protected Area, and the conservation of the African penguin, Cape fur seals, various dolphin species, the vulnerable great white shark, southern right whales, and other marine life.
The Trust currently has a volunteer program that is designed to meet the needs of interested volunteers with specialized skills, while working on projects with marine biologists, other environmental organizations that Dyer Island Conservation Trust works with.
It is dedicated to raising awareness of Dyer Island’s conservation values through educational programs. The trust has grown over the years into one of South Africa’s most respected nature organizations.
This has been down largely to the dedication and expertise of its staff that includes enthusiastic volunteers, specialist consultants, and project managers who are committed entirely to serving our goals in conserving nature and the marine environment on Dyer Island for generations to come.
The Trust’s flagship African Penguin & Seabird Sanctuary (APSS) rescues and rehabilitates injured, oiled, and orphaned African penguins and other seabirds, and runs an African Penguin Nest Project that has deployed artificial nests on Dyer Island since 2006 to replace the burrows lost when historical guano scraping stripped the island’s soil.
Dyer Island’s African penguin colony has collapsed from roughly 25,000 breeding pairs in the 1970s to just over 1,000 pairs today, a decline of nearly 90% (BirdLife South Africa), which is why the Trust treats penguin recovery as its top priority alongside its ongoing great white shark research.
Dyer Island Conservation Trust’s Mission
Dyer Island Conservation Trust helps African countries conserve their natural resources and the Dyer Island community.
By employing locals to manage wildlife sanctuaries, conduct world class scientific research like great white shark research and other valuable research. The trust also aims to create conservation projects like protecting African penguin colonies, guarding breeding grounds, and more.
Dyer Island Cruises and Marine Dynamics, both founded by Chivell, run whale-watching and great white shark cage-diving trips out of Gansbaai, and the revenue from those tours helps fund the Trust’s conservation and research work.
The trust’s mission is to conserve Dyer Island for future generations by protecting its Cape fur seal colony and safeguarding the wildlife breeding grounds in the surrounding ocean.
Also to protect African penguins, conserve the vulnerable great white shark, and aim to monitor of coastal pollution – and by protecting Dyer Island’s coastline from development, ensuring Dyer Island remains a safe paradise for our wildlife.
Projects
The Dyer Island Conservation Trust conducts evidence-based conservation initiatives and research programs to protect the marine ecosystem, marine animal strandings, and its inhabitants at the southernmost tip of Africa through research and reducing human waste along the coastline.
The Dyer Island Conservation Trust has established a Fishing Line Recovery Programme to reduce the severe environmental damage caused by fishing lines and a recycling project at the Kleinbaai harbour to reduce waste and marine pollution in the area.
Dyer Island offers an officially recognized Environmental Education Programme that provides both classroom and field education opportunities for learners of all ages. Dyer’s marine projects include the following:
- African Penguin & Seabird Sanctuary (rescue and rehabilitation)
- Marine debris and plastic pollution monitoring
- Research Programmes
- African penguin nest project
- Educational programs to local communities
- Dyer Island Beaches Clean up co-opted by Cape Chamonix Environmental Coordinating Committee for National Coastal Cleanup day or alternatively, on any other day convenient to volunteers
- Beach Activities – including snorkeling walks with underwater viewing equipment, swimming lessons with qualified instructors, educational talks about the human impact on beach health and ecology where applicable etcetera
- Tidepool Walks – walks led by a biologist or environmental educator to explore Dyer Island’s intertidal habitats, including Dyer’s famous granite reefs (the island is part of the Table Mountain National Park)
Partners
The trust also partners include Dyer Island Society, Dyer Island Bird Reserve, Dyer Island Municipality Nature Foundation to educate people about Dyer’s conservation values.
Dyer Island Society
It is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of Dyer Island, its ecosystem, and the endangered wildlife on Dyer Island. To date, Dyers has raised over $2 million for projects designed to protect Dyer Island.
Dyer Island Bird Reserve
Dyer Island is a 20-hectare granite island and Important Bird Area near Gansbaai, South Africa, managed as a nature reserve. Its rocky, largely bare terrain and lack of land predators historically made it one of the world’s most important African penguin breeding sites.
The large numbers of visitors to Dyer Island create competition for nesting space amongst local bird populations with destructive results on breeding success rates.
African Penguin & Seabird Sanctuary
The African Penguin & Seabird Sanctuary (APSS) is the Trust’s on-site rehabilitation facility, treating oiled, injured, and orphaned African penguins and other seabirds before releasing them back to Dyer Island and the surrounding coast.
APSS also runs the artificial-nest programme that gives penguins safe burrows to replace natural nesting habitat lost to historical guano harvesting on the island.
Is the Dyer Island Conservation Trust legit?
Yes, Dyer Island Conservation Trust is legit. It was established in 2006 by Wilfred Chivell to save the critically endangered African penguin from extinction in South Africa. The Trust’s mission is to protect Dyer Island and its surrounding waters, which provide valuable breeding habitat for the African penguin.
See Related: The Importance of Wildlife Conservation
How to help
Do you want to support the work of the Dyer Island Conservation Trust to protect the marine ecosystem around the Western Cape in South Africa and the marine species living in the area, then click on the donate button and go to their website.
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