Search on for how and where SA's algal bloom started, and where it's going
The current bloom was first reported on beaches on the southern tip of the Fleurieu Peninsula in March before spreading across the Gulf of St Vincent.
The federal and state governments have committed a combined $28 million to tackle the issue, some of which will be spent on research.
University of Technology Sydney harmful algae bloom expert Professor Shauna Murray said the impact of the bloom was unprecedented in Australia.
Professor Murray said while it was important to understand the chain of events that led to the bloom, more important was understanding how it could be quickly detected "so we can be prepared to respond to it", she said.
"If it occurs then we know what to expect, we know what areas it might affect, we might understand a bit better how it will affect those areas."
Though the first reports linked to the bloom were on Waitpinga Beach, estuarine ecologist Faith Coleman thinks fish kills further south and east could have been connected.
"Areas like Portland in Victoria, and looking at the Eight Mile Creek [south of Mount Gambier], those places have had over the last couple of years [seen] a series of smaller blooms, best we can tell," Ms Coleman said.
"Although they weren't investigated at the time, each one of those periods of large fish kills have tied into an extreme event relating to a large amount of seagrass death and seaweed death, and either exceptionally cold or hot waters.
"We suspect that this particular bloom started somewhere near Robe."
While it was not yet clear exactly where the bloom started, Flinders University Associate Professor Jochen Kaempf is trying to predict where it is going.
He has developed a computer model to predict how the bloom could be developing.
"It very likely becomes weaker and might disappear, or looks like disappearing," Dr Kaempf said.
"The big question is whether it will turn up again when it gets warmer in the next summer months.
"Will it maybe appear in the Spencer Gulf? [That] is way more concerning in terms of its ecological significance.
"We have the sardine stock, the prawns, the cuttlefish. That's a big concern."
The state government has said a marine heatwave, nutrients washing into the sea from the 2022-'23 River Murray flood, and an "unprecedented" cold-water upwelling in the summer of 2023-'24 are plausible contributing factors to the bloom.
Dr Kaempf discovered the Great Southern Australian Coastal Upwelling System and has been studying it for more than two decades.
The event attracts a range of marine life, including dolphins and whales.
Dr Kaempf said there would not be a relationship between the 2023-'24 upwelling and the current bloom as blooms develop over the course of one to two months.
"It's just too long ago and not linked to the bloom that we're seeing now," he said.
Ms Coleman said the impacts of the upwelling on the algal bloom are likely to be insignificant compared to the marine heatwave.
"What happened is what always happens — which is that it blows a little bit of extra nutrients that it's accumulated over time up into the main water column," she said.
"Those were immediately taken up by a diatom bloom that you could see from space."
Ms Coleman said the government likely has not had time to rule out the upwelling or flood as contributing factors.
"Even SARDI and PIRSA reports say quite clearly the primary cause is climate change," she said.
South Australia's Department for Primary Industries and Regions was contacted for comment.
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