{"id":688002,"date":"2026-05-22T20:06:42","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:06:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/688002\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T20:06:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T20:06:42","slug":"algal-bloom-fishing-restrictions-see-seafood-prices-rise-as-king-george-whiting-hits-100-per-kilo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/688002\/","title":{"rendered":"Algal bloom, fishing restrictions see seafood prices rise as King George Whiting hits $100 per kilo"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Australia’s peak seafood body says a short supply of some species due to the algal bloom and commercial fishing restrictions has led to slight price increases, as it warns it could take industry five to 10 years to fully recover.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, one seafood retailer says prices for some premium fish, such as King George Whiting which currently costs $99.99 online, have remained high.<\/p>\n

Gulf St Vincent was closed<\/a> for commercial marine scalefish fishing in November last year after the bloom devastated fish stocks, including popular species like southern calamari, King George Whiting and garfish.<\/p>\n

The restricted area was scheduled to reopen in July this year, but the closure has been extended<\/a> until May 2027 due to depleted numbers.<\/p>\n

Seafood Industry SA executive officer Kyri Toumazos says Gulf St Vincent is a “highly productive” area and is responsible for approximately 50 per cent of the state’s production of marine scalefish, especially garfish, whiting and calamari.<\/p>\n

He says while the extended closure is crucial for the gulf’s long-term sustainability, there is a chance it could increase prices further.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Kyri Toumazos says some fish are more expensive than usual. (ABC News: Stephen Opie)<\/p>\n

“That is always a risk when you have less supply,” Mr Toumazos said.<\/p>\n

“There’s definitely been a shorter supply of seafood over the last few months \u2026 some species, definitely we’ve seen a slight [price] increase, such as calamari and whiting are the two that are predominantly the drivers here in South Australia.<\/p>\n

“Garfish, we’ve seen a little bit of a [price] increase, but garfish usually is a product that gets caught at different times of the year so we’re hoping that over the next few months we will see greater catches.<\/p>\n

“We are working with our local fishers to ensure that all our local produce gets first opportunity to be consumed here in South Australia and we’re hoping that we’ve seen the worst of it so far.”<\/p>\n

Heartbreak of toxic algal bloom outbreak<\/a><\/p>\n

A mysterious, brown foam appeared on a beach an hour south of Adelaide. It was just the beginning of a toxic algal bloom that has now grown to thousands of square kilometres in size, killing precious sea life in its wake. Experts say it could be a sign of things to come.<\/p>\n

Mr Toumazos said the Gulf St Vincent closure, in addition to restrictions in the Spencer Gulf, has added pressure on the state’s other fishing zones to supplement lower supply.<\/p>\n

He says it comes at a time when the fishing industry is also grappling with rising fuel and operating costs.<\/p>\n

“At the moment, everything seems to be very stable in those areas, so we are continuing with our current management, but we are monitoring it extensively throughout the next few months,” he said.<\/p>\n

“There is an extensive part of our coastline that is not impacted by algal bloom, especially west of Port Lincoln, and those areas are productive areas for fish across calamari, blue swimmer crab, and whiting.”<\/p>\n

He said it while was encouraging that some species \u2014 such as the blue swimmer crab \u2014 have been able to recover quickly in numbers, it could take five to 10 years for the industry to return to pre-bloom capacity.<\/p>\n

“That is without another re-occurrence of a bloom or the traces of the bloom continuing as we’re seeing in Spencer Gulf for long periods of time,” Mr Toumazos said.<\/p>\n

“All experts are telling us do not expect a linear increase in stocks. It’s going to be a bouncy road ahead.”‘We haven’t had the abundance of fish’<\/p>\n

At the Adelaide Central Market, seafood company Angelakis Brothers director Alex Knoll said the bloom has impacted the availability and variety of species that customers expect this time of year.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Alex Knoll said some species are in short supply, pushing prices up. (ABC News: Rachael Merritt)<\/p>\n

“We would normally start to see an abundance of King George Whiting come through the markets, that’s not happening at the moment but we are getting some good numbers of garfish,” Mr Knoll said.<\/p>\n

“It will be a little bit harder for the South Australian squid but there is always an alternative available which I think is really important.<\/p>\n

“Garfish has come through in larger numbers, and we are seeing that market price coming down again now, although it has been quite high for quite a while now.”<\/p>\n

Mr Knoll said while it’s not uncommon to see a premium species like King George Whiting retail for nearly $100 per kilogram, especially around Christmas time, prices have remained high.<\/p>\n

“I guess it’s been sustained for a lot longer because we haven’t had the abundance of fish coming out of the water so we can then reduce the price,” he said.<\/p>\n

Alternatives on the menu<\/p>\n

Some SA seafood producers and sellers reported a drop in sales and consumer confidence last year<\/a> due to perceptions over the algal bloom, despite a state government campaign reassuring people local seafood in stores was safe to eat.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A government education campaign about the safety of SA seafood continues. (ABC News: Stephen Opie)<\/p>\n

The government’s latest water testing shows low or zero levels of karenia were recorded across most of the coastline.<\/p>\n

Elevated levels were recorded at six sites on the Eyre Peninsula, one site on the Yorke Peninsula and Spencer Gulf.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fair Seafood owner Amanda Prance said the changes in supply provide a chance to educate customers on alternate species they may not be familiar with.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Amanda Prance says in a cost-of-living crisis, consumers can choose from a range of species at different price points. (ABC News: Rachael Merritt)<\/p>\n

“We can’t support the fishers that are in these regions so we’re obviously using other fishermen outside of those regions for our produce \u2026 and that means different species,” she said.<\/p>\n

“We haven’t had King George Whiting in for probably about four weeks \u2026 and we enjoy it when we get it in but it’s not our primary focus.<\/p>\n

“If you want to do a curry, if you want to put something on the barbecue, if you want to have a pan fry, we’ve always got a fish available for that.<\/p>\n

“Particularly with cost of living, that’s obviously a consideration \u2026 we always try and make sure we’ve got fish in those different price points.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"South Australia’s peak seafood body says a short supply of some species due to the algal bloom and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":688003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[335993,6343,335994,64,63,99,18958,51521,6349,48405,335992,322,335991,171,9074,20669,23687,1124],"class_list":["post-688002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-alex-knoll","tag-algal-bloom","tag-amanda-prance","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-commercial","tag-customers","tag-fishing","tag-gulf-st-vincent","tag-kyri-toumazos","tag-local","tag-marine-scalefish","tag-markets","tag-prices","tag-restrictions","tag-seafood","tag-south-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/688003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=688002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}