New multi-million-dollar marine research vessel to respond to South Australia’s biosecurity threats

ABC NEWS (Australia)

There are hopes a new multi-million-dollar marine research vessel for South Australia will detect and respond to biosecurity events like the algal bloom that's been killing marine life along the state's coast. The toxic bloom has spread to the Coorong and while experts say this weekend's cold, wild weather has the potential to shift the algae along the coast. There are concerns it won't be easy to flush from the system.

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00:00Making headway on marine research. This is all of the areas of operation.

00:07This 40 year old state government owned research vessel will in four years time be replaced with a bigger $44 million boat.

00:16This investment will enable the construction of a new vessel which will be state of the art with technology that will set us up for the future.

00:24It will give us the capacity to respond quickly to any biosecurity events, whether it's harmful algal blooms.

00:31While planning for the new vessel gets underway, researchers are continuing to monitor the algal bloom off South Australia's coast.

00:39It's now spread to the fragile saline environment of the Coorong, killing thousands of marine worms, crabs and fish.

00:46And what strikes me is the colour of it. It's not a bloom that I've ever seen before.

00:52It's like a very strong black teeth.

00:56How we're going to get it out I'm not sure because once it's in here it's a confined set of bays.

01:01One potential measure could be freshwater flushing.

01:04The Environment Department's working on modelling to determine how effective that strategy could be.

01:10All of the options that may be able to have an impact on dissipating that or flushing it through are being looked at.

01:16It remains to be seen whether they will be appropriate.

01:19For now it's hoped the weekend's wet and windy weather has helped dissipate the bloom along the coast.

01:25It's like still warm water and we are now getting cooler waters and increased agitation and movement as a consequence of the storm.

01:35So these are the things that we would expect to break down that halfway algal bloom.

01:40An expectation that many around the Coorong and coast hope becomes a reality.

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