Finally, although African Penguins can be successfully rehabilitated and restored, these positive results should not overshadow the overall negative effects of oil spills on seabird populations. The best solution is to prevent or minimise oil spillage as much as possible. This paper has dealt almost exclusively with African Penguins. Research has shown that Cape Gannets can also be successfully restored into the active breeding population. The proportions of oiled cormorants successfully rehabilitated and restored in the breeding population has been much smaller than that of penguins and gannets.
Cormorants are more difficult to catch than penguins because they fly until they become weak.
Cormorants and other flying birds are less susceptible to oiling than penguins as they fly over the contaminated areas. However, when there is a large amount of oil in close proximity to cormorant colonies, they are at greater risk of becoming contaminated. Monitoring the fortunes of cleaned cormorants and other flying seabirds is also more difficult than monitoring penguins, but should be initiated as a matter of priority. Several of the flying seabirds that have been affected by oil pollution are considerably less numerous than African Penguins, and it is important to assess the effectiveness of treatment the birds are given following oiling.