An 'Underwater Bushfire' Sparks Urgent Calls Urgent Calls for Action in South Australia

Carcass of southern fiddler ray on SA’s Glenelg beach. Photograph: Mark Willoughby/ZUMA Wire/Shutterstock

The Environment Institute is committed to supporting and doing our part to limit the impact of and promote the recovery of our marine systems that have been devastated by an algal bloom.

We are fortunate to house leading expert researchers that have been on the front foot to inform the media and government about the drivers and impacts of the recent agal bloom scourge affecting our coastal waters.

Today, the SA government met to discuss the potential for more funding on top of the federal government pledged $14 million to help manage this crisis. This support is welcome. The funding will go towards a range of activities, including monitoring and research, beach cleaning, assisting impacted businesses and boosting community awareness. Federal Environment Minister Mr Murray Watt says “it's intended to deal with a number of short-term requirements and some of the longer-term needs that South Australia is going to face as it recovers from this event."

However some remain upset that was this event was not declared a national disaster. Senator Sarah Hanson-Young pointed out "If this was a massive bushfire on the east coast or a big climate bomb of weather, huge flooding, cyclones, it would have been declared a disaster."

National Disaster Definition and Legal Implications
By labelling the algal bloom event a “national disaster”, in turn it’s parallel to declaring a “national emergency”, Federal laws enacted in 2020 would have permitted the governor-general to declare a national emergency if the prime minister deemed the event to be causing (or likely to cause) harm that is ‘nationally significant’. Nationally significant harm means harm that has a significant national impact because of its scale or consequences, observed Future Making Fellow Dr Phillipa McCormack.

If declared a disaster, "it can trigger access to a particular pot of money, the kind of disaster relief funding," she tells Channel 10 News Lunchtime. Whilst the legislation takes a broad view of what qualifies as nationally significant harm, including criteria such as "harm to the life or health of animals or plants" and "harm to the environment", the Act is limited to nationally-significant contexts she says.

The problem with disaster arrangements is the definition " doesn't cover marine heatwaves [and] algal blooms. It doesn't actually even cover long-running heatwaves on land," Dr McCormack adds.  The announcement of the funding is great starting point expresses Dr McCormack, as it will help communities and businesses impacted by the event, as many haven't had fish for months, and the funding is "a welcome investment and protection for them."

Environment Institute Members Perspectives on the Crisis
Future Making Fellow Dr Dominic McAfee compared this environmental event to “an underwater bushfire” and would like to see “a response that's akin to how we respond to bushfires on land”. This stresses how serious this disaster really is, which has been reflected in several media outlets including ABC National Radio and The Guardian.

Professor Justin Brookes, Environment Institute member, notes that the rate of growth of the bloom is competitive “There [are] lots of different species of algae, and some can dominate systems. We tend to see a succession - some will rise up and then others will take over,” he said speaking with ABC National Radio.

he algal bloom has been causing havoc in South Australia since early March, affecting important water sources like the Coorong Lagoon, a vulnerable area at the bottom of the River Murray, and making its way into the Port River.

Dr Christopher Keneally, Environment Institute member, spoke to AusSMC about the spread of the bloom. “The harmful algae bloom has blanketed large areas of South Australia’s coastline and has already killed many fish, sharks, and a wide diversity of other marine life, with devastating environmental and economic effects.”

Dr Nina Wootton, Environment Institute member, also spoke with AusSMC describing the outbreak as an ecological crisis. "While not yet formally declared a national disaster, the scale of this event, spanning hundreds of kilometers of coastline and devastating huge numbers of marine life, is unprecedented for the region and demands national attention," she said.

“If this was happening in more populous areas, action would have already been taken to call this a national disaster. Without serious changes, we can expect more of these ecological shocks in the future."

The Path Ahead
As to why the bloom has spread so fast, Professor Brookes along with other experts say “We're not really sure why this particular algae has chosen this moment to come along. It's sort of colonised right across the coastline. But it is a problem species because it's toxic, and it's probably not a great food source either.”

Multiple experts from the Environment Institute have noted that the bloom thrives in warmer temperatures, Dr Wootton says “In this case, unusually warm waters and calm conditions appear to have created the perfect storm. This is climate change in real time. The consequences of years of inaction are now unfolding before our eyes.”

Speaking with the Australian Associated Press, Dr McAfee said “It seems like almost everything has died.” Further expressing just how confronting the affects are as “It hits quite hard when you’re on the beach, and you can also see and smell the foam” when speaking with ABC National Radio. “The impacts we’re seeing now could just be the start of something more prolonged.” Dr McAfee adds.

Dr McCormack was interviewed by SBS TV News, saying apart from financial assistance, we are limited as to what can physically stop the bloom from spreading. “In this case what we're really talking about is national recognition of an absolute catastrophe unfolding in south Australian waters,” says Dr McCormack.

Further commenting for AusSMC, Dr McCormack adds “the disaster relief funding arrangements do not specifically provide for algal blooms or slow-onset disasters such as marine heatwaves (or land-based heatwaves, for that matter).”  Why is this an issue? Dr McCormack explains that extreme events can be quickly, like fires, or slowly, such as droughts and heatwaves, however “both kinds can cause serious harm” she says, emphasising that “these funding arrangements will need to be more flexible as the climate changes.”

"We need a system that is set up to build the resilience of these environments, marine, coastal and land. Environmental law reform is way overdue,"

"For the communities who live along the South Australian coast and for the marine environment that's just so badly impacted, money, unfortunately, is probably one of the the biggest things that we really need."

'We need those fishing communities to be protected. We need the kind of science that will help us to understand what's happening and what we can do to start to clean up and recover."

In the Media

FMF Dr Phillipa McCormack (SBS TV News, ABC News Radio, ABC Radio Gippsland, MSN Australia, AusSMC, Channel 10 News Brisbane, ABC News Online)

FMF Dr Dominic McAfee (The Guardian, The Senior, The Examiner, Inkl, The Rural, Yahoo! News Australia, The Queenslander, Yahoo! News New Zealand, Canberra Times, Illawarra Mercury, Daily Mail Australia, Perth Now, Australian Associate Press)

Dr Nina Wootton (newKerala, Big News Network, Xinhua News Agency, AusSMC)

Dr Christopher Keneally (The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, AusSMC)

Professor Justin Brookes (ABC National Radio)