Latest news with #GulfStVincent
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Algal bloom turns coast into a 'marine graveyard'
A massive, unstoppable, toxic algal bloom that has turned beaches into "marine graveyards" has prompted calls for a federal investigation. The microalgae, karenia mikimotoi, was identified off South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula in March. The bloom grew to an unprecedented scale, close to the size of Kangaroo Island, at more than 4400 sq km, and as deep as 25m. It's now breaking up and has spread into most of Gulf St Vincent, including along Adelaide's beaches and south into the Coorong wetlands. There have been hundreds of reports of marine deaths, ranging from sharks and penguins to popular fishing species such as flathead, squid, crabs, and rock lobsters. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said the bloom was a horrific and heartbreaking "environmental catastrophe". "When parliament resumes in two weeks time in Canberra, I will be moving for a federal parliamentary inquiry," she told reporters on Friday. "We need proper investigation and proper federal support." Beaches have become "graveyards" for marine species, and the fishing and tourism industries have been significantly impacted, she said. Ms Hanson-Young claimed the federal government ignored warnings about the algae before it took hold. "It is very concerning that the country's leading marine scientists have been ignored and dismissed," she said. Experts believe there are three potential plausible contributing factors causing the bloom, the SA government said. One is a marine heatwave that started in September 2024, with sea temperatures about 2.5°C warmer than usual, combined with calm conditions, light winds and small swells. Another is the 2022-23 River Murray flood washing extra nutrients into the sea and an unprecedented cold-water upwelling in summer 2023-24 that brought nutrient-rich water to the surface. SA Environment Minister Susan Close said the bloom had lasted longer than experts thought it would. "Now that it's here, it's going to be hard to get rid of," she said. "It's easy to feel helpless, because the bloom itself is something that we can't stop." The SA government met with impacted commercial fishers, tourism operators and local councils about support packages. "It's been very, very distressing for people, and it's affected people's livelihoods," Ms Close said. The state government is also starting work on a recovery plan. This could include creating artificial reefs to help build up marine life, restocking fish into the ocean and increasing the number of marine sanctuary zones along the coast. "Although we're looking forward to the end of this experience, we cannot assume it's the last time we've had it," Ms Close said. Karenia mikimotoi is in SA's waterways and waiting to come back to life when conditions are right, she said. "This is what climate change means." OzFish previously said more than 200 species of fish, sharks and other marine creatures had been killed by the algae bloom. This includes rarely encountered deepwater sharks and leafy sea dragons, and recreational fishing species like flathead, squid, crabs, and rock lobsters. Karenia mikimotoi is toxic to fish and invertebrates but does not cause long-term harmful effects in humans. But, exposure to discoloured or foamy water can cause short-term skin or eye irritation and respiratory symptoms, including coughing or shortness of breath. The last large event of this type of algae recorded in SA was at Coffin Bay in 2014.
ABC News
19-06-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Micro algal bloom off SA persists as commercial fishers seek economic relief
South Australia's commercial fishers are calling for financial assistance amid "complete ecosystem failure" with more cloudy and rough weather needed to continue to disperse the ongoing micro algal bloom. The South Australian Department of Primary Industries' latest published situation update reveals oyster harvesting areas in American River, Port Vincent and Stansbury remain under precautionary closure, along with part of the commercial harvesting area for pipis around the mouth of the Murray River. South Australia's deeper shelf waters remain between 0.5 and 1 degree Celsius higher than the average for the time of year. The report also showed that levels of chlorophyll-a (chla) had begun to reduce along the Coorong coast, but remained high in the north-east area of Gulf St Vincent. The Marine Fishers Association (MFA) has approached the state government for licence fee relief for affected commercial operators. Chief executive officer Pat Tripodi said the recent short patch of stormy weather seemed to have dispersed the bloom to different areas. "Previously it was concentrated to the western side of Gulf St Vincent, and then after the storms it's come across to the Adelaide side and pushed up the top near [Port] Wakefield and up near Port Parham," he said. Mr Tripodi said as soon as bloom-affected water entered a fishing area the prospect of fishers making catches disappeared. Mr Tripodi said the MFA had written to SA Primary Industries Minister Clare Scriven to request fee waivers for those affected but was still waiting for an official response. He said some members would be eligible for a $1,500 grant from the government's drought relief fund, given the link between drought conditions and the algal bloom. In a statement, Ms Scriven said she was "open to discussing potential options" with the MFA. "While some marine scalefish fishery licence holders are reporting significant impacts from the current harmful algal bloom, others are reporting no impact at all," she said. "For this reason, various options may be explored." Mr Tripodi said his members were "absolutely concerned" about the future of South Australia's fisheries, particularly in some of the hardest-hit areas around the Yorke Peninsula and Kangaroo Island. "We're talking about all the shellfish that live in sediment, the worms, mussels, cockles, razorfish — they're gone. "Even once this algae clears, our question is what [are] the fish going to come back to eat?" Brad Martin from Oz Fish, who has been tracking the marine deaths caused by the bloom for months, said coasts along the Yorke Peninsula still seemed to be quite significantly impacted with reef and seagrass fish still washing up. Mr Martin said there also had been a "trickle of fish mortalities" along the Adelaide metropolitan coast on the other side of Gulf St Vincent. He said the bloom had grown in some areas and diminished in others, and was an "ongoing, dynamic situation", and it was not known when it would disappear. Mr Martin said South Australia was experiencing more still, sunny days than would normally be expected at this time of year, continuing the conditions beneficial for the bloom. One of the areas worst affected by the bloom before the cold fronts arrived in June was the waters between the northern coast of Kangaroo Island and Yorke Peninsula. Tourist operator Roanna Horbelt of RAD KI said the conditions had continued to improve after the most recent cold front, and she was no longer finding any dead marine life on the beaches but was still seeing some of the foam associated with the algae. But she said commercial fishers in the area were still concerned about a lack of catches in the future. Ms Horbelt said she was now working with Professor David Booth from the University of Technology in Sydney to try to help gauge the impact the bloom has had on the iconic leafy and weedy sea dragon populations.
