Calls for national response as Aussie beaches turn into 'graveyards of fish'

Yahoo

06-07-2025

The deadly algal bloom plaguing hundreds of kilometres of South Australia's coastline continues to inflict devastation on marine life, and demands for a national plan are intensifying as some in the state believe the "climate catastrophe" is not being taken seriously by the federal government.
For months now, marine animals have been washing up dead on beaches, and last week the algal bloom reached metropolitan beaches in Adelaide. Many locals have been unable to even go for a leisurely walk along their favourite stretch of coastline without seeing dead marine wildlife at their feet.
"It seems as though a walk along the beach here at Brighton has become an exercise in counting dead fish," South Australian Senator Sarah Hanson-Young told Yahoo News.
"And this is horrific.
"It is a graveyard of fish on our beaches, and we need proper investigation and proper federal support."
The Senator is calling for a federal inquiry into the toxic algal bloom and has started an online petition, urging Aussies to sign it and show their support for a federal government-led investigation. She has also vowed to make this issue her number one objective when parliament resumes on July 22.
"I will be moving for a federal parliamentary invite. This is an environmental catastrophe... South Australia needs to be upfront with the global community that we can't do this alone, and we need help," she said.
Tensions have intensified since it was revealed the federal government was warned about the risk of an algal bloom long before it first hit SA shores in March. Senator Hanson-Young said this revelation is heartbreaking, believing the warnings would have been taken seriously if eastern states had been at risk.
"The report that the federal government have ignored the warning signs, ignored the pleas for help and funding from scientists months and months before this took hold... is an absolute shame," she told Yahoo.
"If we had dead fish and marine life washing up day after day on Bondi Beach or on the north shore of Sydney, there'd be a national outcry."
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The algal bloom has not only had devastating environmental repercussions, but it's also inflicting economic instability to those in the state's fishing industry. Nathan Eatts, a sixth-generation commercial fisherman, told Yahoo News on Friday that he hasn't caught a single squid since April and likened the situation to a "massive bushfire" under the water.
"We have very high costs in our industry. I personally just got a $13,000 yearly bill from fisheries, but if I can't catch any fish how am I supposed to pay it?' he said. 'It's quite stressful, I've got a mortgage too," he said.
With declining supply in the ocean, and plummeting sales due to consumers being concerned about potential contamination, the current situation dire for the fishing industry.
Seafood industry veteran and former TV personality Michael Angelakis has also sounded the alarm over the weekend, telling the Adelaide Advertiser that it's going to take years for the sea life and the industry to recover.
"We have a drought in the sea, so we need the same considerations, the same kind of financial support and recognition that they are giving farmers," he said.
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