ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN, REPORTER:  Four hours a day, seven days a week, these council workers are tasked with clearing up the toll from South Australia’s unprecedented algal bloom. 

TYRON BENNETTS, CITY OF CHARLES STURT:  This is obviously something that no one’s ever dealt with before.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: Adelaide’s Charles Sturt Council estimates it’s collected two tonnes of dead fish and other marine animals since late June. 

TYRON BENNETTS:  We do rotate the team through so it’s not the same team members every day because yeah, it would be a bit grim having to spend seven days a week picking up dead marine life. 

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: Some areas off Adelaide’s coast, once abundant with fish, now appear lifeless.

VOICE OF MANNY KATZ, DIVER EYRELAB:  This bloom has been compared to an underwater bushfire, but it was just apocalyptic down here. 

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: The harmful algal bloom was first reported in March. While there are no official figures, citizen scientists have reported more than 31,000 marine mortalities since then.

PROF. MIKE STEER, SA RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE:  This particular microalgae Karenia impacts fish in two ways. First of all, it damages or clogs up the gills to prevent them from breathing appropriately, and also when the Karenia bloom declines and decomposes, it draws all the oxygen out of the water.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: South Australian authorities believe the bloom has been fuelled by warmer ocean temperatures, and nutrient rich conditions. 

The geography of the coastline is prolonging the problem.

MIKE STEER:  One of the challenges that we have is both of our gulfs are relatively shallow and enclosed, which means that they provide a good environment for the algae to persist and we’re seeing in Gulf St Vincent that pattern of currents moving around in that clockwise direction. So it looks like the algae are catching a ride, a conveyor belt ride around the coast.

BART BUTSON, COMMERCIAL FISHERMAN:  I don’t know what my future is. I don’t know if this is the end of my fishing career or if it’s just a speed bump, I don’t know.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: Normally a pod of dolphins would bring a smile to Bart Butson but the commercial fisherman says in this case, both he and the marine mammals are struggling to land a catch.

BART BUTSON:  So the fishing has really declined. We’re still trying to ascertain exactly at what levels, but usually for Gulf St Vincent, we probably should have caught maybe 15 tonnes of calamari for this time of the year collectively as a fleet and at the moment we’ve only caught 24 kilos.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN:  Bart fishes for whiting, garfish and squid in Gulf St Vincent – one of the areas hardest hit by the bloom. 

After three hours of toil, he fills two containers – a fraction of his normal catch.

BART BUTSON:  Even though this looks like a reasonable amount of fish, it’s a nice feed and it will end up in some restaurants somewhere and people will enjoy it, it’s not commercially viable. 

SARAH HANSON-YOUNG, GREENS SENATOR:  I think it Is a question South Australians want to know.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: The state and federal governments have been criticised for a slow response to the algal bloom. 

SARAH HANSON-YOUNG:  Just wondering why it took until the 20th of July for a formal request for money?

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: A senate inquiry is examining the rollout of financial support in July, months after the natural disaster started.

PETER MALINAUSKAS, SA PREMIER:  So throughout March, April and May all of the forecasts that we’re getting from our marine scientists was that the algal bloom would dissipate during the course of winter months and it certainly became clear in July that those forecasts weren’t going to come to fruition and that invited a different policy response.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN:  Did you underestimate the severity of the algal bloom. 

PETER MALINAUSKAS:  I think everybody did. Our political leaders are not normally marine scientists so it is my responsibility to take the advice that we receive from our experts. 

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: $28-million in state and federal assistance is now on offer. Bart needs to prove he’s suffered a 30 per cent decline in catch over three months to receive an initial grant of $25,000.

So how do you go between now and seeing that money flow? 

BART BUTSON: Nervously. Yeah, we just try to manage as carefully as we can. We have some savings, but that’s a bit daunting using your savings just to survive. 

DAMIEN THOMAS, CARAVAN PARK MANAGER:  Governments tend to be a bit slow to the parties until it’s time to ask for money from us then they’re very quick at it.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: Damian Thomas manages this caravan park at Edithburgh on Gulf St Vincent.

Many come to the town to fish and he’s feeling the pinch from a tourism downturn.

DAMIEN THOMAS: Normally, October long weekend is chocablock full and we would normally be pretty close to full by now. So I think a lot of people must be holding back to see what’s happening. I don’t know if we might be not quite 50 per cent booked yet. 

PETER MALINAUSKAS: All of the public health advice that we have received consistently says that beaches won’t need to close.

The algal bloom can represent an irritant or have an effect for an asthmatic under certain circumstances. But for the vast majority of people, they will be able to enjoy the beach unaffected.

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: The Premier is worried about the impact the bloom could have on the state’s $478-million seafood industry.

PETER MALINAUSKAS: Our fisheries are highly regulated and well managed, and we want to make sure people know that seafood consumption’s perfectly safe. 

ANGELIQUE DONNELLAN: But despite the pledge of continued government support, those who rely on the ocean for their livelihoods, fear the bloom could get worse over the coming summer.

DAMIEN THOMAS:  It’s our peak season so that’s how our businesses survive. They make hay while the sun shines and they, you know, use that income to keep them going for the rest of the year.