South Australian businesses lose trade because of toxic algal bloom, survey finds

Australia Broadcast Center

3 days ago

A tourism survey found about 40 per cent of South Australian businesses impacted by the toxic algal bloom have experienced a downturn in trade as the government's financial support starts to flow to those affected.
The Tourism Industry Council SA (TiCSA) report showed the average year-on-year loss for a business in July was $52,000, with 14 per cent of respondents saying they lost more than $100,000.
The survey results, submitted to the Copper Coast Council meeting last week, included responses from 93 restaurants, hotels and marine tourism operators in the Yorke, Eyre and Fleurieu peninsulas, Kangaroo Island and metropolitan Adelaide.
The report found "negative perception of marine activities and destinations" had affected businesses where the algal bloom had not been present, with some respondents experiencing cancelled bookings for the upcoming summer and Easter next year.
"If people cancel their holiday, go somewhere else, are they going to come back? Because a lot of these people are repeat visitors, they come every year," TiCSA chief executive officer Shaun de Bruyn told ABC North and West.
"Fishing charters definitely have been heavily impacted and some of them have shut down on the Yorke Peninsula."
SA Premier Peter Malinauskas on Sunday said five out of 24 businesses that applied for financial relief had been approved as part of a $28 million federal and state government support package announced to tackle the ongoing algal bloom.
"We really want to make sure we're supporting businesses who are impacted by the algal bloom because it's directly impacting them," he said.
"But if the algal bloom doesn't need to impact those businesses and it's only hurting them because of fear in the community, then that's a very sad state of affairs indeed."
Dead marine life continues to wash up on SA beaches because of the harmful algal bloom.
Health authorities say the toxins are not dangerous to humans but can cause short-term irritation.
Jetski tour operator Nick Sciancalepore, who received a $10,000 government grant, said bookings at his business in Adelaide's north have dried up since April because of fears over the bloom.
"We shut the doors on where we were renting and we're back working out of a van," he said.
"We had a drastic 30 per cent minimum loss in the first month, down to 100 per cent loss from the following months."
Mr Sciancalepore said despite clear waters in the Lefevre Peninsula, the phone has stopped ringing.
"The water is like glass, the marine life is out there, there's seals on the rocks, there's dolphins coming in," he said.
"We haven't taken a tour in months and there's no problem with what we have down here.
"It's not just one business hurting, it's everyone."
On Monday, federal environment minister Murray Watt offered an apology to those who thought the governments were too slow to act on SA's algal bloom crisis, which was first reported on the Fleurieu Peninsula in March.
"What we were doing though in the run-up to that was working very closely with the South Australian government for weeks.
"We are in uncharted waters as to how to deal with it and what support is needed. But when the South Australian government made its request of us, we turned that around within 24 hours."
Mr Watt said he would be visiting Adelaide again this week to meet with affected businesses.
On Monday, Mr Malinauskas said initial advice from marine biologists and scientists to the SA government indicated the bloom would have dissipated by May but "that didn't happen".
"Then when we got to July, I think that invited some serious scrutiny that clearly we don't have a full appreciation of what is happening scientifically here and that invites a different response, and that is what we've been working very hard at delivering over the course of the last few months," he said.
Last week, opposition environment spokesperson David Basham said the criteria for government algal bloom funding was limiting.
He said beachfront kiosks and cafes were eligible for the funding but restaurants were not.
"One street back isn't good enough," Mr Basham said.
"I certainly understand that here in the city you wouldn't expect businesses in the CBD to be able to claim against this sort of thing but in a tourist town like Victor Harbor, Middleton, Port Elliott, Goolwa, they're all very much affected right throughout the community."
Mr Malinauskas said exemptions could be made for businesses that might not fit the criteria.
"What we've actually done is embedded a process that allows for exemptions to be made where people might fall just outside of the criteria," he said.
"We're trying to err on the side of flexibility rather than inflexibility."
The premier said funding was also being used to hold public information forums, like one held at Semaphore on Sunday, to communicate response and recovery efforts to the community.
Community-led vigils were held at Glenelg and Brighton beaches on Saturday night to mourn the masses of marine life killed by the algal bloom since March.
One vigil organiser, 11-year-old Eden Kolinac, said the event was a great opportunity for the community to get together.
"To see our ocean suffer like this is devastating," she said.
"It was really lovely just to see that we can honour the marine life we have actually lost tonight and in the past for how long this has been going for."
Ollie Thomson, 13, said it was "upsetting" to see dead sea life along the beach he frequents.
"It makes me feel really sad because especially how you see the number of animals and fish that were left along the beach, and even some swans."