There’s a scene in Floreana in which Mallory — a penguin researcher returning to the field after a decade away — tells her intern Hannah about the effects of weather on the lives of Galápagos penguins. Though this scene is fictional, the information about the weather and the penguins is real.

“One of the reasons these penguins are endangered is climate change, right?” I say. “Two weather patterns affect them—La Niña, which we’re experiencing now, and El Niño, which has become both more frequent and more severe.” I wave my arm toward the water. “Normally, the cold currents bring the fish and crustaceans to the surface, which is great for penguins. But during El Niño, the water is warmer, which means this food isn’t available. During the last really bad El Niño, back in 1996 and ’97, food was so scarce we lost more than sixty percent of the penguins.”

“It was ’97 and ’98, actually.”

I hadn’t realized Gavin was still nearby, listening. I look at him and again get the sense that none of this will be easy. It feels as if he wants to remind me of how long it’s been, of how hard it will be to step back into my decade-old shoes …

… “So if this is a La Niña year,” Hannah says, “it’ll be good for the penguins because of the cooler water?”

“Good for penguins,” I say, “but it also means less rain and a rougher season for the tortoises and all the animals on land.”

It’s never all good news; this I remember well. In a season when one species wins, others will lose.

In addition to the 1997-98 El Niño event mentioned above, another in 1982-83 caused even more damage — more than 70 percent of Galápagos penguins didn’t survive.

And the El Niño we’re facing right now could be even worse.

NOAA is currently looking at the possibility of a “super El Niño” — a weather event in which the temperatures in the Pacific Ocean are far higher than normal and could wreak havoc on ecosystems. As this article highlights, the effect of a super El Niño could be catastrophic for Galápagos penguins — there are only 2,000 left in the world, and to lose even a small number is devastating.

There’s not much we can about the weather — other than, long term, give up our fossil fuels and halt global warming — but the good news is that we can all help penguins by avoiding seafood and especially fish oil and krill supplements (there are so many better plant-based options!).

Much of the sea surrounding the Galápagos Islands is protected — however, poachers constantly enter protected waters to take fish (and penguins, who are caught as bycatch). And penguins don’t always stay within these protected areas … they go where the food is, which means they’re usually out there fishing where all the humans are fishing. And the penguins cannot catch what they need when they’re up against commercial fishing vessels.

With the oceans and their creatures under so much stress, leaving the seafood for the animals is the best way to help heal the oceans and help the penguins and other animals thrive. 🐧