Latest news with #Kareniamikimotoi
The Age
7 hours ago
- Health
- The Age
‘Cyclone underwater': Why the algae disaster could hit Australia's east coast
The harmful algal bloom devastating marine ecosystems off the coast of South Australia is the largest of its kind ever recorded in Australia and could easily occur on the east coast, experts warn. On Tuesday, the South Australian government announced it will match funding promised by the federal government, bringing the total package to deal with the deadly Karenia mikimotoi outbreak to $28 million. The outbreak of the toxic microalgae was first discovered in March on the Fleurieu Peninsula, and has since spread to the Yorke Peninsula, Kangaroo Island, Gulf Saint Vincent and Spencer Gulf. Beachgoers and scientists have documented a vast array of sea creatures washing up dead on beaches. An online citizen science project has identified 450 species killed by the bloom, with the most affected being Southern Fiddler rays. 'It's the biggest bloom of Karenia mikimotoi we've experienced in Australia, but [not] anywhere in the world,' said Professor Shauna Murray, a marine biologist at the University of Technology Sydney. 'There have been larger blooms of Karenia mikimotoi in northern China – it's been very problematic there.' What caused the toxic algal bloom in South Australia? SA Premier Peter Malinauskas said three factors had contributed to the deadly outbreak. The 2022-23 Murray River floods, the biggest since 1956, had forced the largest volume of nutrients from the Murray-Darling system into the marine environment for 70 years.
Sydney Morning Herald
7 hours ago
- Science
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Cyclone underwater': Why the algae disaster could hit Australia's east coast
Second, during the following summer, a longer-than-ever Bonney Upwelling – the natural phenomenon in South Australia that brings up nutrient-rich water from deepwater to the surface – was recorded. Loading Finally, the ongoing marine heatwave means the waters around South Australia have been 2.5 degrees hotter than usual since last year. 'That allowed the algae, that was always there, to explode in its volume,' Malinauskus told reporters on Tuesday. 'It is reasonable to assume that we will see other events of this nature elsewhere in the country and other parts of the world.' Could it happen on Sydney or Melbourne coastlines? Murray said this was not only possible but 'quite likely', given it has already happened in the eastern states on a smaller scale. Murray said previous outbreaks of Karenia mikimotoi in NSW and Victoria, as well as other harmful algal blooms, had affected fishing and aquaculture by making fish unsafe to eat. 'In terms of water column conditions and how similar it would be on the [east] coast, we have upwelling events ... we've had marine heatwaves, we've had all of those things,' Murray said. Loading Can anything be done to fix the algal bloom? The SA government has said 'nothing can be done naturally to dilute or dissipate the bloom'. Murray said Korea and Japan had decades of experience dealing with harmful algal blooms affecting aquaculture facilities, and had researched several strategies, including sprinkling clay into the water to sink the algae. Yet this had not been studied in the Australian environment. 'We simply don't have any data to back up whether any of those methods would work, and most importantly, whether or not they would actually cause additional damage to the marine environment,' she said. How is it harmful to marine life? Karenia mikimotoi has choked ecosystems of oxygen, killing everything from bivalves, worms and cuttlefish to sharks, rays and dolphins. 'It's similar in effect to a cyclone underwater,' Murray said. Marine scientist Janine Baker from the Great Southern Reef Foundation said there would be long-term and widespread environmental, social and economic impacts. 'It's dreadful – I've never seen anything like this in the 35 years I've been working in the marine environment,' Baker said. 'What concerns me is that because there are so many vacant niches now, it will promote the settlement of opportunistic and potentially invasive species.' She said there were already introduced species from overseas and eastern Australia – such as long-spined sea urchins – and the problem was increasing with warming southern oceans. Why won't the federal government declare it a national disaster? Federal Environment and Water Minister Murray Watt has said the Commonwealth Natural Disaster Framework was designed for events such as bushfires and cyclones, and the algal bloom did not fit the bill. He argued the point of declaring a natural disaster was to unlock funding, and this was moot because he obtained $14 million in federal assistance anyway. Dr Scott Bennett from University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies said the government should treat the bloom as a natural disaster. 'The federal government needs to not treat this as an isolated event or a localised event – this is symptomatic of a broader national issue,' Bennett said. 'We're seeing more intense and more frequent marine heatwaves occurring around the country.' What scientific research needs to happen? Loading The SA government said the $28 million package will include beach clean-up, assistance for affected businesses and $13.5 million earmarked for science and monitoring. That includes $8.5 million for a coastal monitoring network, $3 million for rapid assessment of fish stocks using remote underwater video surveys and dive surveys, and $2 million for a new national testing laboratory in South Australia for harmful algal bloom and brevetoxin/biotoxin testing. (At present, samples are sent to New Zealand for analysis.) The catastrophe is affecting the Great Southern Reef, a rocky reef rich in biodiversity that extends from NSW, around the southern side of the continent and up the coast of Western Australia. Bennett and other research partners in the Great Southern Reef Foundation have called for $40 million over 10 years for baseline research into the reef. However, Bennett acknowledged the research focus needed to be on South Australia right now, first diagnosing the extent of the problem and then focusing on key habitat recovery. Fortunately, the state already had experience restoring kelp forests, seagrass meadows and oyster reefs damaged by run-off, he said. 'They've got a really strong track record in large-scale habitat restoration.'
TimesLIVE
a day ago
- Climate
- TimesLIVE
Toxic algal bloom off South Australia devastates marine life, tourism
The toxic bloom has been caused by overgrowth of the Karenia mikimotoi algal species, which affects fish gills and sucks oxygen out of the water as it decomposes, the state's environment department said. Contributing to its growth was a marine heatwave that started in 2024, when sea temperatures were about 2.5°C warmer than usual. The bloom has affected tourism and forced oyster and mussel farms to temporarily shut due to a waterborne toxin caused by the algae, local media said. More than 13,850 dead animals, including sharks, rays and invertebrates, have been recorded by the public on the iNaturalist app. Federal environment minister Murray Watt said on Monday the algal bloom was a 'serious environmental event', but stopped short of declaring it a national disaster, which would allow greater federal support.
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Government all at sea on toxic algae bloom
The Albanese government's refusal to declare South Australia's algae bloom a natural disaster is a curious echo of Scott Morrison's feeble excuse that he did not hold the hose during the Black Summer bushfires of 2019-20, a comment that both captured federal inaction in the face of catastrophe and helped torch his career. Four months ago, an algal bloom primarily caused by the microalgae Karenia mikimotoi was spotted in the waters off the Fleurieu Peninsula south of Adelaide, and has spread west to the Yorke Peninsula and east into the environmentally sensitive Coorong and across the mouth of the Murray River. Thousands of kilometres of South Australian beaches have been littered with dead sharks, rays, fish, dolphins and seals. Tourism has been devastated and the fishing industry is reeling. There are concerns, too, that prevailing currents could carry the bloom into Victorian or West Australian waters. Going down 20 metres beneath the waves, the algae bloom is already almost double the size of the ACT and may be the biggest to hit Australia's coast. The South Australian government, scientists and environmental groups called for help early, but Canberra remained distracted by the federal election until this week, when federal Environment Minister Murray Watt announced a $14 million assistance package, but resisted calls to declare a natural disaster. Watt admitted the bloom was a 'very serious environmental event' but it was wholly within South Australian-controlled waters and therefore did not meet the definition of a natural disaster. 'The Commonwealth natural disaster framework considers events like floods, cyclones and bushfires to be natural disasters, and if they are declared as such, they attract a range of funding,' Watt said. These are nearly always land-based natural disasters, and while past governments thought the sea out of bounds, climate change and pollution suggest the definition needs updating. Such blinkered vision no longer passes the pub test. Imagine the uproar if a similar-sized toxic algal bloom hit Sydney's beaches, with the carcasses of fish and marine animals lining the sand and people prevented from going into the water. Scientists believe the bloom may have resulted from a combination of nutrient-rich water from 2022 floods that flowed through the Murray-Darling system, the current SA drought, and a marine heatwave last September that pushed sea temperatures 2.5 degrees above normal. Loading While the funding announced by Watt is welcome, most of it will probably go towards helping fishers and tourist operators, with money for research a distant afterthought. While coral reefs attract attention and funding, researching the algae bloom in the Great Southern Reef system along the bottom of Australia is expensive science, not least because of the depth of the water.
Straits Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
Australia unveils $11.7 million in funding to fight algal bloom crisis
Find out what's new on ST website and app. A dead ornate cowfish seen along the shore at Victor Harbour in South Australia. Australia's government has unveiled an assistance package of at least A$14 million (S$11.7 million) to help tackle a growing algal bloom crisis off the southern coast that is killing marine life and damaging regional fisheries. Environment Minister Murray Watt announced the funding package in the southern city of Adelaide on July 21 after inspecting the damage. He described the unfolding natural disaster as 'a very serious event'. The outbreak of the algal bloom in South Australia state was sparked by the Karenia mikimotoi plankton and was first detected in mid-March. Since then, it has spread across thousands of square kilometres into waterways near Adelaide. It has now developed into an event of 'unprecedented scale, duration and impact', the state government said. 'Nothing can be done to dilute or dissipate the bloom.' Mr Watt said the federal funding was intended to help clear dead wildlife and provide assistance for tourism and fisheries, as well as longer-term prevention measures. 'There's clearly a need to invest more in science and research about this event,' he said. Since the start of 2025, a citizen scientist website cataloguing marine wildlife deaths along the South Australian coast has received more than 13,000 reports of dead wildlife. In the fiscal year ending June 2024, South Australia's seafood industry brought in more than A$478 million for the state, including the rock lobster industry that had only just received approval to resume exports to China. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore 2 workers stranded on gondola dangling outside Raffles City Tower rescued by SCDF Asia Japan PM Ishiba vows to take responsibility for election loss, to stay in office to deal with US tariff talks Business $1.1 billion allocated to three fund managers to boost Singapore stock market: MAS Singapore Proof & Company Spirits closes Singapore distribution business Life Travel Journal: Safari tourism with a side of moral crisis Singapore Mandai Wildlife Group group CEO Mike Barclay to retire; Bennett Neo named as successor Singapore Jail, caning for man who held metal rod to cashier's neck in failed robbery attempt Singapore Fresh charge for woman who harassed nurse during pandemic, created ruckus at lion dance competition There are three potential causes of the algal bloom, according to the state government, including a marine heatwave that began in September 2024 and pushed temperatures about 2.5 deg C higher than usual. Experts have warned that climate change is increasing the risk of dangerous algal blooms around the world by warming oceans and changing weather patterns. The natural disaster could undermine Australia's pitch to host the 2026 United Nations climate summit in Adelaide . The federal government has been touting South Australia's high renewable energy penetration as it competes with Turkey for the event, but the bloom is drawing attention to gaps in how the state manages environmental crises. BLOOMBERG
