Latest news with #algal bloom
The Guardian
5 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
‘We're watching it get worse all the time': as fish vanish in SA's algal bloom, livelihoods are also at stake
Nathan Eatts can remember the last day he caught a squid. It was 18 April, a few weeks after a brown foam and dead marine life began appearing on beaches on South Australia's Fleurieu peninsula. 'That's over three months now,' says the third generation squid fisher, whose business, Cape Calamari, is based on the southern Fleurieu peninsula. 'Everyone just sort of says 'go fish for something else', but it's not that simple, because we're under a quota system and 95% of what I fish for is calamari.' Since March, Eatts has seen dead stingrays, fish and a dolphin – and that's just at his local beach in Normanville. It is both emotionally and financially devastating. 'Last time I fished, I caught four whiting,' he says. 'That doesn't pay any bills, it puts eight fillets on my table.' The toxic algal bloom that has killed thousands of marine animals around the state has put fishers like him under pressure in areas including Kangaroo Island and the St Vincent and Spencer gulfs. Squid fishers like Eatts were among the first to feel the impact of the disaster on their business. 'We're trying to be optimistic about squid as it's one thing we haven't seen wash up dead,' Eatts says. 'We're hoping they're in deeper water waiting for this to clear but until this clears we just have to sit back and wait, and we're watching it get worse all the time. It's heartbreaking.' This week, under pressure from community advocates, scientists and South Australian politicians such as Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young, the federal and state governments announced a $28m assistance package for affected communities and parliamentary inquiry into the crisis. However the federal government has stopped short of declaring the crisis a natural disaster, which would trigger more resources, saying it did not meet relevant definitions. The South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, warned politicians against getting caught up in technicalities and said it should be described as a natural disaster. Senator Hanson-Young also called on the government to 'declare this the emergency it is'. For fishing businesses that have bills piling up, the pledged assistance package money is welcome help in the short term. However, it is not known when the algal bloom will clear and the industry expects there will be communities in need of more long-term support. 'There is extreme regional impact,' says Kyri Toumazos, executive officer at Seafood Industry South Australia. But some parts of the state have been hit harder than others. Toumazos says wild catch and aquaculture businesses in Kangaroo Island have been affected since 'day dot' of the disaster, as had communities south of Adelaide. In Port Lincoln on the Spencer Gulf, where thousands of people are employed either directly or indirectly by the seafood industry, he says some aquaculture businesses were limiting their harvests due to the algal bloom. Some wild catch businesses in the area were feeling the effects too. 'The biggest concern for us is the longer the algal bloom persists, then the greater the chance of longer term impact for our fisheries,' he says. Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton's Clear Air column as a free newsletter Work to better understand the economic costs to fishing communities and the effects of the bloom on fishing stocks will take place over coming months, says Toumazos, but it could be up to a year before a detailed picture emerges. He said the state and federal governments had been receptive to the need to undertake this work. The chair of Oysters South Australia, Peter Treloar, said the oyster industry had seen the closure of harvest zones in and around Gulf St Vincent including at Stansbury and Port Vincent and at American River on Kangaroo Island. 'The bulk of our oyster growers are located around the coastline of Eyre peninsula and they remain open for sale,' Treloar says. 'It's worth saying that the algal bloom first appeared in Gulf St Vincent some three months ago now and the oyster growers in and around Gulf St Vincent have been closed for sales for two and a half months.' He said these oyster growers had not been able to sell any product and have had effectively no cashflow for that entire period. RecFish South Australia's executive officer, Asher Dezsery, says recreational fishing tourism has also slowed. Regional areas that rely on income from short term accommodation and bait and tackle sales are suffering. 'People are cancelling their trips and not travelling around South Australia whilst this algal bloom is happening,' Dezsery says. A persistent marine heatwave affects the waters off South Australia, kicked off with sea surface temperatures reaching 2.5C above average. A mysterious sea foam appears at beaches on the Fleurieu Peninsula, with reports of more than 100 surfers becoming ill, and deaths of leafy sea dragons, fish and octopi. Marine biologists from the University of Technology Sydney find high numbers of a tiny harmful algal species called Karenia mikimotoi in water samples collected from affected beaches. Prof Shauna Murray – who identified the algae under the microscope and by analysing its DNA – says while still not well understood, K mikimotoi is thought to produce a reactive oxygen that caused gill cell damage in fish – which means they can not breathe. By this point, more than 200 marine species have been killed by the bloom, which stretches along more than 150 kilometres worth of coastline. A powerful storm and high tides washes the algae into the Coorong, staining the water like strong tea before turning it into a slurry. Water testing confirms the presence of the algae in the Coorong. Abnormally high tides, strong winds and large waves lashes the South Australian coastline, with multiple reports of fish deaths along the Adelaide metropolitan coastline reported in the aftermath. Testing confirms the toxic algae had entered West Lakes. While the algae has been detected at the inlet, it had not yet been detected at three other testing sites. 'What this does is highlight just how important recreational fishing is to regional towns and areas such as Yorke peninsula, southern Fleurieu and the west coast.' Scientists from the Biodiversity Council warned this week that the wildlife impacts of the marine heatwave that has driven the catastrophic algal bloom were likely to be equivalent to those from the black summer bushfires and would need a similar response from governments. They've called for tens of millions in additional funding for immediate environmental measures – including at least $10m to fund urgent research into the impact and possible mitigation of the bloom – and for governments to commit to seven actions to respond to the 'foreseeable and even predicted' event. That includes rapid acceleration of decarbonisation efforts because minimising ocean warming was 'the most important step in preventing harmful algal blooms' along all Australian coastlines. Darcie Carruthers, the South Australia-based nature campaigner for the Australian Conservation Foundation, spent the week travelling the coast talking to people in affected communities. She says family-run businesses like Eatts's squid company relied on nature being healthy and were carrying the weight of the crisis. 'In this part of Australia, healthy nature and successful business are one and the same,' she says. 'Communities and industries, including tourism, hospitality and small fishing businesses, that rely directly on a healthy marine ecosystem to survive are desperate for help and for this algal bloom to end.' Bart Butson, a commercial fisher in Port Wakefield at the head of Gulf St Vincent, says the crisis had taken an emotional toll. 'I'm really sad to see that the Gulf is sick, it's terrible,' he says. 'Emotionally that's been the hardest thing for me, is to go out there and see funny coloured water and some iconic fish species dying and floating on the surface. 'I never realised how much I loved the ecosystem until it had become unwell and then it really hit me.' While so far he has been able to get by, there is great uncertainty for his future. Many fishers he knows have been caught off-guard by the bloom, he says, and are now feeling unsure about the future of their businesses. 'They just don't have any fish, they don't catch fish, they don't go fishing any more.'
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Ominous blood-like substance off Aussie coast after 9,000 animals die
An ominous, blood-red substance has been filmed drifting through the sea for metres on end off the South Australian coast this week, as concerns rise in the state over the ongoing toxic algae crisis that has so far been responsible for the deaths of 8,000 to 9,000 marine animals, spanning over 390 species. Footage shared on social media, attracting thousands of responses among Australians, shows a red, paint-like substance billowing through the ocean off Wirrina Cove, a locality on the Fleurieu Peninsula. Worried locals responded, questioning what had left the water such a bright red colour. "Whatever it is, I hope it doesn't make any more ocean critters sick or kill them. I worry for the whales that have been seen at Victor Harbour," a woman said. Authorities in SA continue to grapple with how best to manage the crisis, with experts saying death totals are based on reported observations and are likely underestimates. The bloom, caused by Karenia mikimotoi, has impacted a wide range of marine life, including fish, sharks, rays, invertebrates, and even iconic species like the leafy sea dragon. Yahoo News Australia questioned the SA Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) about the bright red algal bloom at Wirrina Cove. A spokesperson confirmed it is indeed another form of algae — Noctiluca scintillans. "Noctiluca scintillans is not known to have harmful impacts on marine life," they said. Noctiluca scintillans, often nicknamed "sea sparkle," is a type of single-celled marine organism known for its bioluminescence — a glow it emits when disturbed by waves or movement in the water. While beautiful at night, during the day it often appears as a red or pinkish bloom, which is why it's sometimes referred to as a "red tide." This red colour comes not from Noctiluca itself, but from the pigments of the tiny plankton it eats and stores inside its body. 'Toxic to anything with gills': algal bloom spreading Algal bloom turns coast into a 'marine graveyard' Warning to Aussie beachgoers after deadly discovery in waves Despite being non-toxic to humans and not producing traditional algal toxins, Noctiluca can still be harmful in high concentrations. Large blooms can deplete oxygen levels in the water as they die and decay, leading to fish kills or marine life stress, especially in enclosed or poorly flushed coastal areas. Additionally, it can disrupt food webs by outcompeting other plankton and altering nutrient dynamics. Noctiluca blooms are relatively common in Australian waters, especially during warm, calm conditions, and have been observed along coastlines from New South Wales to South Australia. While they attract attention for their visual spectacle, particularly during night-time blooms, their presence can often be an indicator of nutrient imbalance or environmental change in marine ecosystems. Professor Shauna Murray of the School of Life Sciences at the University of Technology, Sydney, is an expert on algal blooms. In an interview with Yahoo News, she said it's probably "too early to tell" what's causing this apparent nutrient imbalance in southern waters. "I think it's too early to say exactly what factors are driving this particular harmful algal bloom (HAB) of Karenia mikimotoi," she said. "Every species of harmful algae has highly individual conditions that it grows under, and these vary. Karenia mikimotoi is normally a temperate species, which blooms in the north of China, the north Atlantic, and other countries. "However, having said that, it could be that a one-degree increase in water temperatures over an extended time frame could be contributing to the growth of the species. Other conditions, such as currents, water nutrients, and other factors, are also contributing. HABs are almost always due to a specific combination of factors unique to the algal species." In general, Murray Said, climate change is "certainly having long-term impacts on HABs. "We are seeing HABs extend their range further south, like blooms of Noctiluca scintillans, which now occur into Tasmanian waters, but previously were only found in mainland Australia," she said. Karenia mikimotoi produce reactive oxygen species that damage gill tissues, leading to suffocation in marine animals, affecting ecosystems along approximately 150 kilometres of coastline, including areas around the Fleurieu Peninsula, Kangaroo Island, and Adelaide's metropolitan beaches. The situation remains critical, with ongoing monitoring and response efforts by authorities and scientists. Love Australia's weird and wonderful environment? 🐊🦘😳 Get our new newsletter showcasing the week's best stories.
