Latest news with #StefanAndrews
Sydney Morning Herald
21-07-2025
- Science
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘A dead shark, dead rays, dead fish, dead cuttlefish': The toxic algal bloom is spreading
The toxic algal bloom that has killed sharks, rays, fish, dolphins and seals along thousands of kilometres of South Australian coastline is now in its fourth month with no sign of abating, as pressure mounts on the federal government to declare a national disaster. An outbreak of the microalgae, Karenia mikimotoi, has sucked all the oxygen from the water, killing fish, marine mammals, invertebrates, seaweed and sea grasses. Great Southern Reef Foundation co-founder Stefan Andrews said great swaths of the ocean are giant dead zones with neon-green water and floating carcasses, with at least 450 marine species affected in the past month, according to citizen science reports. 'What's really disturbing when you're underwater is you see all these fish and everything that have died on the bottom, but there are no decomposers, no crabs and molluscs that usually you would find on dead fish carcasses eating away and recycling those nutrients,' Andrews said. 'There's just this gross, slimy mould, a sort of slime, that's forming over those fish and the algae itself will feed on, engulfing the decomposing fish that have already suffered and died from the algae bloom, so it's further fuelling itself through the dead things, which just really shocking to see.' In March, Andrews started hearing reports from friends on the Fleurieu Peninsula of rare fish washing up on the beach, and there were credible reports the algal bloom extended as far south as the Victorian border. By early July it stretched into urban areas around Adelaide and into the Spencer Gulf, and Andrews said there were fears it could disrupt the winter cuttlefish aggregation for winter egg laying near Whyalla. 'There was a lot of hope that as water temperature would drop, then that would stop the harmful algal bloom spreading, but that hasn't been the case,' Andrews said. 'They were also saying storms might break it up but hasn't been the case. The water doesn't get any colder now, so the experts are predicting it's not going away this winter and might be around for some time.' Environment Minister Murray Watt has said the event was occurring only in state waters, but the federal government would consider a request for assistance from the state government. He is in Adelaide but an announcement is yet to be made.
The Age
21-07-2025
- Science
- The Age
‘A dead shark, dead rays, dead fish, dead cuttlefish': The toxic algal bloom is spreading
The toxic algal bloom that has killed sharks, rays, fish, dolphins and seals along thousands of kilometres of South Australian coastline is now in its fourth month with no sign of abating, as pressure mounts on the federal government to declare a national disaster. An outbreak of the microalgae, Karenia mikimotoi, has sucked all the oxygen from the water, killing fish, marine mammals, invertebrates, seaweed and sea grasses. Great Southern Reef Foundation co-founder Stefan Andrews said great swaths of the ocean are giant dead zones with neon-green water and floating carcasses, with at least 450 marine species affected in the past month, according to citizen science reports. 'What's really disturbing when you're underwater is you see all these fish and everything that have died on the bottom, but there are no decomposers, no crabs and molluscs that usually you would find on dead fish carcasses eating away and recycling those nutrients,' Andrews said. 'There's just this gross, slimy mould, a sort of slime, that's forming over those fish and the algae itself will feed on, engulfing the decomposing fish that have already suffered and died from the algae bloom, so it's further fuelling itself through the dead things, which just really shocking to see.' In March, Andrews started hearing reports from friends on the Fleurieu Peninsula of rare fish washing up on the beach, and there were credible reports the algal bloom extended as far south as the Victorian border. By early July it stretched into urban areas around Adelaide and into the Spencer Gulf, and Andrews said there were fears it could disrupt the winter cuttlefish aggregation for winter egg laying near Whyalla. 'There was a lot of hope that as water temperature would drop, then that would stop the harmful algal bloom spreading, but that hasn't been the case,' Andrews said. 'They were also saying storms might break it up but hasn't been the case. The water doesn't get any colder now, so the experts are predicting it's not going away this winter and might be around for some time.' Environment Minister Murray Watt has said the event was occurring only in state waters, but the federal government would consider a request for assistance from the state government. He is in Adelaide but an announcement is yet to be made.
Perth Now
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Perth Now
Greens demand PM act on toxic bloom
Anthony Albanese is being pressed to declare a toxic algae bloom, which has crippled South Australia's coastline and plunged seafood industries into peril, a 'national disaster'. The naturally-occurring but harmful algal bloom has plagued the state's beaches for months, killing marine life and plunging the seafood industry into crisis. Reports have emerged of dead fish, rays and sharks washing up along the metropolitan coastline – including North Haven between the river mouth and marina breakwater, Tennyson Beach, north of Grange jetty, and south of Christies Beach Surf Life Saving Club. Several mussel farming sites around the Port Lincoln area have also been shut after shellfish toxins were detected in the area. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has called on the Prime Minister to respond to the growing algae bloom 'disaster' in South Australia. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia Greens senator Sarah Hanson Young has says the bloom is a 'national disaster' and therefore required a 'national response'. She called on the Prime Minister and federal Environment Minister Murray Watt to visit Adelaide and 'take some action'. 'If this was happening in Bondi, or on the North Shore in Sydney, the Prime Minister would have already been on the beach, talking to concerned locals and the affected industries,' Senator Hanson-Young said on Wednesday. Reports have emerged of dead marine life washing up along areas of SA's metropolitan coastline. Stefan Andrews / Great Southern Reef Foundation Credit: Supplied More than 200 marine species have been recorded as dead due to a toxic algae bloom in South Australia. Supplied Credit: News Corp Australia 'But today, we've had virtually nothing from the federal government.' South Australia's flagship fisheries patrol vessel Southern Ranger has been deployed to inspect the bloom and help authorities understand its impact. Senator Hanson-Young, the Greens' environment and water spokeswoman, said this should have been happening 'weeks and weeks ago' – pointing out SA's fishing and tourism industries were being 'smashed'. 'Our environment is dying, and our community is alarmed,' she said. The algae bloom was first detected in March. Supplied / Great Southern Reef Credit: Supplied 'This is the climate crisis unfolding before our very eyes, and South Australia can't handle it on our own.' Senator Hanson-Young said she would be moving for a federal inquiry into the crisis when parliament resumes. In their latest update on Wednesday, the SA Department of Environment and Water said the algae – known as Karenia mikimotoi – had been detected in the Port River. Elevated levels were found by authorities along the metropolitan coastline, while 'very high' levels were at the Garden Island and Outer Harbor boat ramps. It was first detected on the Fleurieu Peninsula in March. The bloom quickly spread to other waterways after it was detected in the Fleurieu Peninsula four months ago. Stefan Andrews / Great Southern Reef Foundation Credit: Supplied 'State government agencies are taking weekly water samples at 17 sites across West Lakes, the Port River, the Patawalonga River and the end of four jetties at Largs Bay, Grange, Glenelg and Port Noarlunga,' the department said in their update. The South Australian opposition has already called for a royal commission to explore the origin and consequences of the algae and what could have been done to manage the situation, the ABC reports. Authorities believe a marine heatwave in September last year could have contributed to the bloom. Flooding in the Murray River over 2022 and 2023 washing extra nutrients into the sea, or an unprecedented cold-water upwelling over the summer of 2023-24, may also have contributed. The last large event of this type of algae recorded in SA was at Coffin Bay in 2014. Karenia mikimotoi is not known to 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.
The Age
20-06-2025
- Health
- The Age
South Australia's algal bloom has spread. Here's why the rest of Australia should be worried
As he lowered himself into the murky depths of the Yorke Peninsula, Stefan Andrews entered an environment both familiar and completely alien. Usually, these sparkling waters would be alive with Port Jackson sharks and other fish, leafy sea dragons, octopus and molluscs. But for months now, swaths of South Australia's coastal areas have been transformed into 'dead zones': starved of oxygen, overrun with algal blooms primarily caused by microalgae Karenia mikimotoi, and filled with the floating bodies of marine creatures. The vast dead zones have stretched across central the state's coastlines, and now encroach on urban areas of Adelaide itself. 'The water was a neon green, and really low visibility, even though we'd had low winds for quite a few days, so you'd usually expect clear water at that time,' Andrews said of his foray into a dead zone under the Edithburgh Jetty. Once he was below the water's surface, the scale of the disaster became clear. 'I immediately started seeing things that were dead and dying along the ocean floor,' the co-founder of the Great Southern Reef Foundation said. 'And quite strikingly, for me, was the jetty pylons, which were usually covered in these beautiful filter-feeding sponges and invertebrate life. And [the sponges and invertebrates] were all falling apart. Their tissues were decomposing right before my very eyes.' Karenia mikimotoi is toxic to fish and invertebrates, and can cause respiratory and eye irritations and rashes in humans. People who ingest alga-contaminated water can also experience gastro or flu-like symptoms. 'It acts like a toxic blanket that suffocates marine life,' said OzFish South Australia project manager Brad Martin. 'It can suffocate fish from their gills, cause haemorrhaging by attacking their red blood cells, and act as a neurotoxin and attack the fish's nervous system and brain, causing unusual behaviour.' Among its victims have been sharks, dolphins, rays, leafy seadragons, cuttlefish, octopus and little penguins. Distressing footage posted online shows an alga-affected shark swimming erratically along the shore on the south coast, apparently searching for more oxygen. Janine Baker, a marine scientist of 35 years, said she had never seen anything like it. 'There are fishers in those areas who say they're not catching anything at all,' she said. 'And then there's all the peculiar behaviours [of marine animals] as well. Fishes [and] sharks driving themselves ashore ... and on the southern Yorke Peninsula, and also the western side of Gulf St Vincent, hundreds of rays washing up, for example, even 100 on some of the beaches.' The bloom has mainly been concentrated in the central coastal areas of South Australia. Baker said it was, 'without doubt, an environmental disaster, and there will be long-term marine environmental, social and economic impacts'. The algal blooms have been fed by a combination of factors. The state's environment department says 'plausible' contributing factors are record marine temperatures, the 2022-23 Murray River floods, which washed nutrients into the sea, and 'cold-water upwelling' during 2023-24, which brought nutrients to the surface. Australia has since last year been enveloped in a marine heatwave stretching for 40 million square kilometres across the south-west Pacific, bringing intense heat, extreme rainfall and sea-level rises. As marine heatwaves become more common, experts warn algal blooms – like those that hit southern California this year for the fourth year running – will also become more common. A joint community-based data gathering project on online platform iNaturalist has attracted more than 4680 observations of species between Ceduna in the state's west, to Nelson just over the border in Victoria. The cause of death has not been confirmed in most cases, although Baker said the majority of deaths were recorded in bloom-affected areas. The most commonly recorded species of dead sea creatures was southern fiddler rays. So far, 330 species have been recorded in the database. Andrews warned that what he's witnessed in South Australia could happen elsewhere. 'It's definitely a warning sign that marine heat waves are likely to be happening more frequently, [and] being more severe,' he said. A spokeswoman for the South Australian Environment Department said authorities were monitoring the situation through daily satellite observations and weekly water testing in the Coorong. 'Similar blooms around the world have lasted from a week to several months, depending on wind, rain and ocean temperatures,' she said. The Great Southern Reef Foundation this week sent small teams of divers to survey an area off the Yorke Peninsula that has been heavily hit by algal blooms. 'One of the alarming things is there's basically next to no one documenting what's happening,' Andrews said. 'We're missing opportunities here to actually learn from something that could happen more and more frequently.' Loading The Karenia outbreak was first discovered in March on the Fleurieu Peninsula. It has since spread to the Yorke Peninsula and Kangaroo Island. Among the first people to publicly sound the alarm about the toxic blooms was surfer and part-time photographer Anthony Rowland. On March 17, he photographed a thick, tan-coloured foam that had developed on Waitpinga Beach near Victor Harbour, south of Adelaide. Andrews and other surfers who entered the water later experienced respiratory difficulties and blurred vision. 'While we were out there we started coughing,' he told the ABC. '[We] came in [from the beach] and we kept coughing after walking up the hill, and a few people in the car park came over, and they said that they'd experienced the same coughing, and they hadn't even hit the water yet.' Since then, beachgoers and scientists have documented a vast array of sea creatures washing up dead along the South Australian coastline. In the past weeks, Karenia advanced into the Coorong, an internationally significant RAMSAR wetland on the mouth of the Murray River. A photograph captured by Coorong Wild Seafood co-owner Glen Hill several weeks ago showed a stew of dead polychaete worms so dense, it would be impossible to put a pencil through the surface of the water without touching multiple bodies. 'You can't do justice [with photographs] to how much of it there is,' said Hill, who has fished these waters for 35 years. 'There's 50 metres or something [of worms] washed up in one area. So there's 100 kilos or something of it sitting in one small area. It's absolutely devastating.' 'I broke down when I saw it.' Hill has been advocating for years for authorities to release more environmental flows into the Murray Darling System, which covers about one-seventh of the Australian continent, and concludes at the Coorong National Park at the mouth of the Murray. 'It's just absolutely on the edge of survival,' Hill said of the Coorong lagoon and coastline. The South Australian government has urged people not to swim in foamy or discoloured water, or where there is sick or dead marine life. Dead or dying marine life found on the beach should not be consumed. 'A glimmer of hope might be that the deeper reefs may have been a bit of a refuge from some of the algae that was sitting on the surface of the water,' said Andrews. 'But we don't know.'
Sydney Morning Herald
20-06-2025
- Health
- Sydney Morning Herald
South Australia's algal bloom has spread. Here's why the rest of Australia should be worried
As he lowered himself into the murky depths of the Yorke Peninsula, Stefan Andrews entered an environment both familiar and completely alien. Usually, these sparkling waters would be alive with Port Jackson sharks and other fish, leafy sea dragons, octopus and molluscs. But for months now, swaths of South Australia's coastal areas have been transformed into 'dead zones': starved of oxygen, overrun with algal blooms primarily caused by microalgae Karenia mikimotoi, and filled with the floating bodies of marine creatures. The vast dead zones have stretched across central the state's coastlines, and now encroach on urban areas of Adelaide itself. 'The water was a neon green, and really low visibility, even though we'd had low winds for quite a few days, so you'd usually expect clear water at that time,' Andrews said of his foray into a dead zone under the Edithburgh Jetty. Once he was below the water's surface, the scale of the disaster became clear. 'I immediately started seeing things that were dead and dying along the ocean floor,' the co-founder of the Great Southern Reef Foundation said. 'And quite strikingly, for me, was the jetty pylons, which were usually covered in these beautiful filter-feeding sponges and invertebrate life. And [the sponges and invertebrates] were all falling apart. Their tissues were decomposing right before my very eyes.' Karenia mikimotoi is toxic to fish and invertebrates, and can cause respiratory and eye irritations and rashes in humans. People who ingest alga-contaminated water can also experience gastro or flu-like symptoms. 'It acts like a toxic blanket that suffocates marine life,' said OzFish South Australia project manager Brad Martin. 'It can suffocate fish from their gills, cause haemorrhaging by attacking their red blood cells, and act as a neurotoxin and attack the fish's nervous system and brain, causing unusual behaviour.' Among its victims have been sharks, dolphins, rays, leafy seadragons, cuttlefish, octopus and little penguins. Distressing footage posted online shows an alga-affected shark swimming erratically along the shore on the south coast, apparently searching for more oxygen. Janine Baker, a marine scientist of 35 years, said she had never seen anything like it. 'There are fishers in those areas who say they're not catching anything at all,' she said. 'And then there's all the peculiar behaviours [of marine animals] as well. Fishes [and] sharks driving themselves ashore ... and on the southern Yorke Peninsula, and also the western side of Gulf St Vincent, hundreds of rays washing up, for example, even 100 on some of the beaches.' The bloom has mainly been concentrated in the central coastal areas of South Australia. Baker said it was, 'without doubt, an environmental disaster, and there will be long-term marine environmental, social and economic impacts'. The algal blooms have been fed by a combination of factors. The state's environment department says 'plausible' contributing factors are record marine temperatures, the 2022-23 Murray River floods, which washed nutrients into the sea, and 'cold-water upwelling' during 2023-24, which brought nutrients to the surface. Australia has since last year been enveloped in a marine heatwave stretching for 40 million square kilometres across the south-west Pacific, bringing intense heat, extreme rainfall and sea-level rises. As marine heatwaves become more common, experts warn algal blooms – like those that hit southern California this year for the fourth year running – will also become more common. A joint community-based data gathering project on online platform iNaturalist has attracted more than 4680 observations of species between Ceduna in the state's west, to Nelson just over the border in Victoria. The cause of death has not been confirmed in most cases, although Baker said the majority of deaths were recorded in bloom-affected areas. The most commonly recorded species of dead sea creatures was southern fiddler rays. So far, 330 species have been recorded in the database. Andrews warned that what he's witnessed in South Australia could happen elsewhere. 'It's definitely a warning sign that marine heat waves are likely to be happening more frequently, [and] being more severe,' he said. A spokeswoman for the South Australian Environment Department said authorities were monitoring the situation through daily satellite observations and weekly water testing in the Coorong. 'Similar blooms around the world have lasted from a week to several months, depending on wind, rain and ocean temperatures,' she said. The Great Southern Reef Foundation this week sent small teams of divers to survey an area off the Yorke Peninsula that has been heavily hit by algal blooms. 'One of the alarming things is there's basically next to no one documenting what's happening,' Andrews said. 'We're missing opportunities here to actually learn from something that could happen more and more frequently.' Loading The Karenia outbreak was first discovered in March on the Fleurieu Peninsula. It has since spread to the Yorke Peninsula and Kangaroo Island. Among the first people to publicly sound the alarm about the toxic blooms was surfer and part-time photographer Anthony Rowland. On March 17, he photographed a thick, tan-coloured foam that had developed on Waitpinga Beach near Victor Harbour, south of Adelaide. Andrews and other surfers who entered the water later experienced respiratory difficulties and blurred vision. 'While we were out there we started coughing,' he told the ABC. '[We] came in [from the beach] and we kept coughing after walking up the hill, and a few people in the car park came over, and they said that they'd experienced the same coughing, and they hadn't even hit the water yet.' Since then, beachgoers and scientists have documented a vast array of sea creatures washing up dead along the South Australian coastline. In the past weeks, Karenia advanced into the Coorong, an internationally significant RAMSAR wetland on the mouth of the Murray River. A photograph captured by Coorong Wild Seafood co-owner Glen Hill several weeks ago showed a stew of dead polychaete worms so dense, it would be impossible to put a pencil through the surface of the water without touching multiple bodies. 'You can't do justice [with photographs] to how much of it there is,' said Hill, who has fished these waters for 35 years. 'There's 50 metres or something [of worms] washed up in one area. So there's 100 kilos or something of it sitting in one small area. It's absolutely devastating.' 'I broke down when I saw it.' Hill has been advocating for years for authorities to release more environmental flows into the Murray Darling System, which covers about one-seventh of the Australian continent, and concludes at the Coorong National Park at the mouth of the Murray. 'It's just absolutely on the edge of survival,' Hill said of the Coorong lagoon and coastline. The South Australian government has urged people not to swim in foamy or discoloured water, or where there is sick or dead marine life. Dead or dying marine life found on the beach should not be consumed. 'A glimmer of hope might be that the deeper reefs may have been a bit of a refuge from some of the algae that was sitting on the surface of the water,' said Andrews. 'But we don't know.'
