Six key breeding areas are to be safeguarded to help save the African penguin, following a landmark court order in South Africa.

Last year scientists warned that the species was declining by around 8% every year and could become extinct within a decade.

The court has imposed no-fishing zones around the breeding colonies to prevent so-called purse seine fishing vessels, which use large nets, from catching sardines and anchovies for the next 10 years.

The order is the result of an out-of-court settlement reached before a three-day High Court hearing was due to start between conservation groups, the commercial fishing industry and the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE).

Last year, BirdLife South Africa and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (Sanccob) started the legal action - the first case of its kind in South Africa.

They alleged that ministers had failed to adequately protect the endangered species after failing to implement key recommendations from a scientific panel brought in by the government to assess the risk to the African penguin.

They argued the continuation of "inadequate" interim closures to fishing vessels around the breeding colonies, which are mainly in the Western Cape, had been allowed.

The Biodiversity Law Centre, which represents the groups, said the number of penguins had dwindled from 15,000 in 2018 to just under 9,000 at the end of 2023.

It said if the current rates of decline persisted the African penguin could be extinct by 2035.

The order, issued by the Pretoria High Court on Tuesday, outlines no-go zones for the commercial sardine and anchovy fishing vessels around six key African penguin breeding colonies: Dassen Island, Robben Island, Stony Point, Dyer Island, St Croix Island and Bird Island.

The DFFE has two weeks to make sure the permit conditions and the closures are implemented.

Nicky Stander, head of conservation at Sanccob, said the journey was far from over.

"The threats facing the African penguin are complex and ongoing - and the order itself requires monitoring, enforcement and continued co-operation from industry and the government processes which monitor and allocate sardine and anchovy populations for commercial purposes," she said.

The anchovy and sardine fishing industry said it was pleased an agreement had been made, saying the decision was halfway between the interim closures and the area closures requested by conservation groups.

It also added that the perception that the fishing industry was the primary cause of the decline of the penguin population was false.

The order will last for the next 10 years, bringing it to 2035 which is when scientists predicted the penguin would be extinct.

Its progress will be reviewed six years from now.