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.
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