From a web-site on penguins, regarding human effects upon penguin population.

1 . Historians believe that indigenous peoples have hunted some species of penguins and taken eggs for centuries (Sparks and Soper, 1987).

2. Mass exploitation occurred when early explorers, sealers, whalers, and fishermen turned to penguin colonies as sources of fresh meat and eggs (Moller-Schwarze, 1984). Sometimes more than 300,000 eggs were taken in annual harvests from one African island (Sparks and Soper, 1987). Explorers were known to kill and salt 3,000 penguins in a day for voyage provisions (Simpson, 1976). Penguins were easy prey because of their inability to fly and their seeming lack of fear of humans (Sparks and Soper, 1987). Although egg-collecting was banned in 1969, illegal harvesting continues today (del Hoyo, et al., 1992).

3. During much of the 19th century, and into the 20th, penguin skins were used to make caps, slippers, and purses. Feathers were used for clothing decorations and as mattress stuffing (del Hoyo, et al., 1992; Simpson, 1976; Sparks and Soper, 1987). Inhabitants of the remote island grouping in the South Atlantic, Tristan da Cunha, still depend on penguins for eggs, feathers, oil, and skins (Simpson, 1976).