South Australian tourism operators call for Commonwealth support amid toxic algal bloom

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Three months after a toxic algal bloom was first detected off the coast of South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula, tourism operators say they are in dire need of support if they're to survive the ongoing marine disaster. The bloom has killed hundreds of species, decimating fisheries and deterring tourists from visiting the region.

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00:00The calm winter waters of South Australia's Gulf St Vincent usually attract schools of

00:10prized King George Whiting and boatloads of visitors to catch them.

00:16Net fisherman Andrew Pisani hasn't caught a healthy fish in these waters for more than

00:2170 days.

00:23Every boat ramp now is empty.

00:25There's no vessels here at all, no tourism, no nothing here and it's a concern and it's

00:32a big concern.

00:34Toxins linked to the harmful algal bloom, identified as predominantly Karenia mikimotoi, have also

00:40closed local oyster leases.

00:42Edith Berg attracts thousands of school holidaymakers over summer.

00:51Fishers rely on the winter school holidays to tide them through the quieter months.

00:55There's not really a lot of fishing going on but we do have plenty of other things for

01:00you to do around the town.

01:02But with no fishing, diving or surfing on the peninsula, people are staying away.

01:08No luck and it's really sad to see that there's all dead fish everywhere.

01:12The shackeys haven't come, they've come for a day or two days, gone fishing, haven't gone

01:17home again so the business side of it has dropped right off.

01:23In Port Vincent, local businesses are uniting to call for help.

01:28They want a natural disaster declaration to trigger Commonwealth support.

01:32We're all struggling with this, I'm probably around about 12 to 15 per cent down.

01:37What I worry about is the on-flow effect of the next few months.

01:41Everything on the bottom is dead and it will take more than just one year to recover.

01:47It's going to take a lot of years to recover.

01:50People here want answers.

01:52They want to see more research into the algal bloom, fish stocks and the safety of eating

01:56local seafood.

01:59Fish and ship sales at the Port Vincent kiosk are down 50 per cent.

02:03Previously it was, do you have local, we want to buy local, now they don't want local.

02:08They've asked us, they'd rather buy overseas fish so that they, and we're not buying from

02:13our local suppliers.

02:14The kiosk owners have already had to cut staff hours, but as locals watch their livelihoods

02:20wash up dead on the beach, they say a lifeline is needed now.

02:29You can do a lot to buy overseas fish.

02:41Lots of food is easy.

02:43There are a lot to see down below.

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