The federal government has so far provided $28 million to the SA government to address the bloom, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said he would again visit the region next week.<\/p>\n
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Swaths of South Australia\u2019s waters have been turned into \u201cdead zones\u201d, starved of oxygen by blooms of the microalgae Karenia mikimotoi, caused by a combination of an intense marine heatwave and agricultural runoff.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt acts like a toxic blanket that suffocates marine life,\u201d OzFish South Australia project manager Brad Martin, told this masthead in June.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can suffocate fish from their gills, cause haemorrhaging by attacking their red blood cells, and act as a neurotoxin and attack the fish\u2019s nervous system and brain, causing unusual behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bloom has killed sharks, dolphins, rays, leafy sea dragons, cuttlefish, octopuses and little penguins, and local fishers have had their businesses destroyed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe algal bloom disaster is hammering species that are already on the brink. Fast-tracking assessments is the right call and shows the government is listening to the science \u2013 but the real test will be how quickly we can get any listings in place to deliver much needed protections through recovery actions,\u201d said Alexia Wellbelove, a threatened species campaigner with the Australian Marine Conservation Society.<\/p>\n
Humane World for Animals and AMCS wrote to Watt in July urging immediate conservation intervention for the three most endangered species.<\/p>\n
The Biodiversity Council welcomed Watt\u2019s decision to fast-track the expert assessment, but warned that because so little is known about size and distribution of many marine species, it would be difficult to assess the impact of the bloom against reliable baselines.<\/p>\n
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\u201cListing species that are at risk of extinction can be an important first step in their recovery, if listing generates good planning and investment in management,\u201d said Biodiversity Council member Professor Nicki Mitchell from the University of Western Australia\u2019s Oceans Institute.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, assessing marine species against listing criteria is often difficult due to a lack of suitable data on population trends.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, many terrestrial species are listed as threatened because of documented reductions in how many there are over a certain number of generations, or because we know they occur across relatively small areas, or in small habitat patches. We do not have similar certainty in these types of information for most marine species.\u201d<\/p>\n