Algae bloom may be behind ‘Brucey' coming close to Adelaide beaches
The micro-algae karenia mikimotoi is causing the seafoam along and murky water across South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula.
The foam — likened by some to the froth on a milkshake — and its effects were first noticed by surfers at Waitpinga, about 100km from Adelaide, on March 15, with the EPA reporting the algae has since been found on beaches from Cape Jervis to Encounter Bay.
A shark expert has told 7NEWS the animals may be sick from the toxic algae that has already killed sealife near Goolwa, their usual feeding grounds, but said the sharks are not worried about swimmers.
Andrew Fox told 7NEWS that the risk of being bitten is low, as the shark desperately tries to survive the lack of oxygen in the waters.
'It's possible that sharks are in a lot of strife, the last thing in its mind is to be a potential shark bite risk factor,' he said.
A mystery white pointer nicknamed 'Brucey' was seen near Normanville on Tuesday in waters so shallow its fin stuck out of the water metres from shore.
Fox said the sharks are in the shallows due to the higher oxygen levels.
'We know that this is probably related to the record temps (of the water) and the algal blooms,' he said.
'I suspect that the respiration of the sharks are being affected and they're trying to get more oxygenated waters in the shallows.'
Since March 15, the pristine cost of the eastern side of the Fleurieu Peninsula has been filled with thousands of dead cockles and fish remain on beaches from Goolwa to Victor Harbour, with Alexandrina Council advising the public to not touch or consume the sealife.
Human exposure, which includes breathing in algae particles, can cause respiratory and eye irritation or skin rashes in some people, while ingestion could cause stomach upsets or flu-like symptoms.
The particles can become airborne and affect nearby beachside properties.
Fox also said that the government should fund further investigations into what is adversely affecting the sharks along the coastlines.
'I think a bit of funding should be put into working out what is going on,' he said.
In the last few days, two monster-sized sharks come close to busy pristine Adelaide beaches and two smaller sharks have washed ashore, dead.
A bronze whaler was spotted at Maslin beach on April 17, so close to shore that he could be filmed by swimmers from the safety of the sand.
All shark sightings have been on the western side of the Fleurieu Peninsula.
On Tuesday, SharkAlert SA posted the sighting of the 'Mystery Brucey' suspecting this may be the same shark spotted at Maslin's and Aldinga in the previous week.
In the video, Lexi Grabb, who handed the footage to SharkAlert SA, is walking along the beach recording the shark in waters so shallow both its massive fin and tail can be seen poking out of the water.
The shark is estimated to be about 3m in length, with SharkAlert SA telling its followers that it could be a 'pointer'.
A white pointer is a great white shark, and can grow from 4m to almost 6m in length depending on sex, with the females often being larger.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
6 hours ago
- ABC News
Contaminated foam returns to central-west NSW river, more potent than ever
Fresh mounds of contaminated foam have been discovered on a central-west NSW river, with laboratory tests showing it contains the highest amount of the forever chemical PFOS yet. The foam's reappearance on the Belubula River near Blayney comes a year after a group of concerned landholders first called in the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) over foam blanketing the river they rely on for irrigation. Appearing in similar locations to last year, tests show the new foam banks contain 540,000 nanograms per litre of PFOS — 67,500 times the latest recommended drinking water guidelines. PFOS is among the thousands of poly and perfluroalkyl chemicals collectively known as PFAS, and has a wide range of industrial uses. The foam was tested at a Sydney lab after scientist Ian Wright collected a sample to help the community gather data. Cattle farmer Frances Retallack, who made last year's foam discovery, also advised the EPA of the most recent pollution event. "After last year's events, we've monitored [the river] closely," Ms Rettalack said. Ms Retallack recorded video of carp in the Belubula River gulping mouthfuls of the foam. "If you look closely, it's full of dead bugs," she said. A spokesperson for the EPA confirmed it had been made aware of the foam's reappearance. "We have contacted the community to seek more information about this latest report of foam … and will work with water scientists on any further investigations," a spokesperson said. The agency said it had conducted an "extensive surface water monitoring program in the Belubula River" since the initial discovery of foam in May 2024. "We measure pollutants across a range of conditions and seasons to capture any variability in results," a spokesperson said in a statement. Part of the regulatory response also imposed new licence conditions relating to PFAS monitoring upon nearby gold mine Cadia Valley Operations, landscape supplier Australian Native Landscapes and Blayney council landfill whose operations are part of the Belubula catchment. The watchdog said its own test results indicated the foam wasn't wholly PFAS and that it was likely "coming from some other source containing a mixture of surfactants". Impacted landholders have pushed back on the EPA's findings to date, saying its testing program wasn't "robust science" and have alleged information was "left out". "The reports made no attempt to look at the toxicity of the foam, its locations on the river, the volume of [river] flow or the toxic fish [we found]," Ms Retallack said. In a letter to the community, the regulator rejected those allegations. An Australian-first scientific paper on the subject established how the 2024 foam was created. Written by Ian Wright, an associate professor at the University of Western Sydney, alongside Helen Nice and Amy- Marie Gilpin, the study used data collected while assisting affected communities along the Belubula River with research support. The paper established background levels of PFOS in the Belubula River were enough to create significant amounts of foam, once water was aerated in colder temperatures. The foam "hyper-concentrated" the amount of PFOS in the river, with one sample showing levels 18,750 times that of the river water. "It's a steep river so there's lots of turbulence, lots of rapids and very small waterfalls," Dr Wright said. His research was also able to establish the Belubula foam was gathering heavy metals at "hazardous concentrations". "It was often a really strange combination of metals, including cadmium and mercury, copper and lead," Dr Wright said. Dr Wright said the process occurring in the Belubula River was something scientists called "foam fractionation". "As bubbles rise through a liquid, some dissolved metals, PFOS, other substances in the water actually stick to the bubbles." Newcastle University's professor Ravi Naidu established the Cooperative Research Centre for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment, known as crcCARE. He described Dr Wright's findings as "important and novel". He suggested the paper would have benefited from a clearer breakdown as to how the foam was processed for analysis given its delicate form, but that further investigation would be beneficial. "Future studies should include the assessment of likely real exposures: platypus, livestock or humans, together with PFAS fingerprinting," Professor Naidu said. This year, the National Health and Medical Research Council released revised drinking water guidelines for the four types of PFAS most commonly found in the Australian population and environment — PFOS, PFOA, PFBS and PFHxS. The new guidelines for PFOS, which appears to be the main PFAS pollutant in the Belubula, were slashed from 70 nanograms to just 8. Dr Wright said PFOS levels in the Belubula River water creating the foam averaged around 20 nanograms per litre — more than double the revised drinking water limit. There are no guidelines for livestock or irrigation, however PFOS levels in the Belubula exceed the EPA's ecological threshold by 86 times. "The Belubula River is an endangered ecological community," Dr Wright said. "These concentrations just in the river are bad." So far, the EPA has resisted seeing the foam as an indicator of river health or a risk to human health. "Foams in water can collect and concentrate chemicals from the surrounding environment to much higher levels," a spokesperson said. "Higher levels of a chemical contaminant in a foam compared to the level in the surrounding water does not necessarily result in additional risk to human health, if contact is avoided." But Dr Wright describes the foam as being "concentrated patches of pollution", which he says raises serious questions about exposure pathways. "There is nothing stopping livestock wading out or [people] pumping it from the river for irrigation for watering livestock. "I think there should be targeted warnings issued for all users of the waterway in the area. The Belubula's foam problem is now on the radar of those further down the river. Winemaker Sam Statham heads up the Belubula River Users Group, representing landholders between Mandurama and the town of Canowindra. He says irrigators downstream of the foam banks were starting to take an interest. "I raised it at the AGM last week and we agreed the issue should be taken to Lachlan Valley Water," Mr Statham said. Mr Statham will host a community event in September, which he hopes will raise awareness of the issue among the downstream community and give people the opportunity to share knowledge. "Someone might get some reassurance from [meeting up]. Someone else might realise there's a problem. "I'm definitely concerned — I don't want PFAS in my wine."
7NEWS
17 hours ago
- 7NEWS
Robotic surgery at St Vincent's Hospital saves Melbourne man's voice and ability to eat
Melbourne man has had his voice and his life saved by cutting-edge robotic surgery, performed in a world-first procedure at St Vincent's Hospital. Jordan Robotis works in before-and-after-school care and said it all started around Christmas time. 'I sort of was noticing my voice was kind of changing,' he said. 'And then further down, my cousins noticed that there was a lump in my throat. So then I got that checked out from the doctors.' Initially, he said: 'They were a little bit unsure about it,' and after ultrasounds, CT scans and a biopsy, he ended up at St Vincent's Hospital. 'They were able to give me a better understanding of what it actually was,' Robotis said. 'They also put a camera in my nose and into my throat and I was able to actually see the tumour, which was pretty confronting.' The tumour was in a highly complex part of the throat, located between the voice box, tongue and side wall of the throat where critical nerves and arteries are tightly packed. 'I was a little bit, I guess, in shock,' Robotis said. 'Sort of unsure on what it is because obviously you hear about it, you see it everywhere. But when it's you, it's a little bit confronting.' 'You sort of go into survival mode... What do we do now?' After being told at another hospital he might never speak or eat again, Robotis was referred to St Vincent's Professor Ben Dixon, Director of the ENT Head and Neck Service. 'They actually did tell me that I'd lose my voice completely. I would never speak again. I'd never eat again. I would have a feeding tube, all that fun stuff,' Robotis said. 'They said they would do their best to avoid all of those, I guess, critical parts and from what I heard, they were one of the best at what they do.' Professor Dixon told 7NEWS the surgery required 'complete removal with a margin around it,' but the challenge was to preserve critical functions such as breathing, swallowing, speech and voice. 'With a more standard or larger approach… it may have left him with more swallowing dysfunction, voice dysfunction, even potentially requiring a permanent breathing tube,' he said. The team used the da Vinci robot to operate from the inside of the throat outward. 'We were able to go in through the mouth, define the limits of exactly where the tumour was, make precise cuts around the lining of the throat and the voice box so that we could maintain function in as much of it as possible,' Professor Dixon explained. 'Then we were able to go externally through the neck and remove it knowing that we'd made the internal cuts in all the right areas.' 'You need to get it all out in the one go… If you leave bits behind or have positive margins, that could be a disaster.' Jordan had no idea the surgery would be done by a robot. 'I was a little bit unsure at the beginning because obviously you don't really expect to be hearing something like that,' he said. 'But I had full trust and faith in the medical team, so I didn't really stress too much. I knew I was in good hands.' After the tumour was removed, plastic surgeon Dr Edwin Morrison used the Simani microsurgical robot to help reconstruct the area using tissue from Jordan's thigh. 'It's one of a kind. There is no alternative to it,' Dr Morrison said. 'It provides us with unparalleled abilities to operate at the microscopic level. Some would say superhuman. It's probably not that unreasonable to put it that way.' He explained the tissue transfer involved repairing blood vessels just 1mm to 1.5mm in diameter. 'We're restoring a circulation or bringing it back to life, if you will,' he said. 'The confidence in repairing vessels… less than one to one and a half millimetres, is not there (without robotics).' Dr Morrison said their goal was simple. 'At the end of the day, we reconstruct defects, we restore form and function - but what it's really all about is restoring patients… and in Jordan's case, their quality of life after their treatment,' he said. The operation took place on May 5th. Recovery was not easy. 'Coming out of surgery, I was in all sorts. It was a lot. It was probably the hardest few weeks of my life,' Robotis said. 'But after getting out of the first few weeks and coming home, it was a lot easier to kind of start healing.' He's now focused on getting his strength back. Returning to the operating theatre where he underwent his surgery 7NEWS was there as Jordan thanked his doctors for saving his voice and his life. 'I guess… thank you. Just for everything they've done. Just how efficiently and quickly it all kind of happened,' he said. 'That's all I can really appreciate is that I'm here.' Professor Dixon said the case highlights how robotic-assisted surgery is transforming outcomes for patients. 'Jordan being a young man with a tumour in a difficult spot… it's a great example of how using technology in the right case can really allow someone to live with a very high quality of life,' he said. 'And really importantly, offer this to as many people in the public as possible.' And if you're still unsure about robots in the operating room? 'The surgeon still controls the robot,' Professor Dixon explained. 'It is not an automated robot. It's fully controlled by a surgeon.'
7NEWS
6 days ago
- 7NEWS
Whales and dolphins' friendships caught on camera
New research suggests dolphins and whales may have playful relationships far more often than we thought. Griffith University scientists analysed 199 videos and photos of interactions between baleen whales and dolphins around the world, many captured by drones, tourists, and citizen scientists shared online. WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Whales and dolphins caught playing Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today In many clips, dolphins were seen bow-riding, rubbing against the whales, and even diving with them to the ocean floor. Some encounters resembled courtship or play, while a few whales appeared irritated, especially during feeding. But in a third of the interactions, whales — particularly humpbacks — responded with what researchers called 'positive social behaviours.' 'We found that in a third of the interactions, particularly with humpback whales, the behaviour could be described as positive — rolling, belly presentation and slow, gentle movements,' said lead researcher Dr Olaf Meynecke. In most cases, dolphins initiated the contact, often approaching the whales' heads and appearing to seek eye contact. New research has found dolphin and whale friendships may be more common and more complex than we thought. Credit: 7NEWS Dr Olaf Meynecke is leading the study of the Griffith University analysing drone footage including of tourist shared on social media. Credit: 7NEWS 'The predominant dolphin position was near the whale's rostrum (the head) where 80 per cent of the interactions took place,' the paper reports. Some dolphins were even seen touching or being lifted by whales suggesting the behaviour wasn't just incidental. Still, not every encounter was friendly. The study observed defensive actions by whales, including tail slaps and surface trumpeting, especially during moments of feeding or competition. The team gathered social media footage spanning two decades, calling it an 'invaluable' tool for tracking rare marine behaviour in the wild. Especially humpbacks seemed to enjoy the attention of the dolphins, often rolling, showing their bellies and gently approaching the dolphins, a study showed. Credit: 7NEWS In many cases, dolphins were seen bow-riding and rubbing up against the whales, even diving with them to the ocean floor. Credit: 7NEWS 'Social media can help fill knowledge gaps traditional research may miss,' the paper noted. However, researchers stressed caution when interpreting marine mammal intent. The study, published in Discover Animals, offers a rare glimpse into the complex social lives of whales and dolphins hinting at a world of interspecies friendship, play, and cooperation yet to be fully understood.
