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Speaker 1: Already and this is the Daily This is the Daily OS. Oh,

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Speaker 1: now it makes sense.

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Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Wednesday,

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Speaker 2: the twenty third of July. I'm Emma Gillespie, I'm Billy

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Speaker 2: fitz Simon's sharks, seals, rays, octopus, dolphins. These are just

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Speaker 2: some of the marine species that have washed up dead

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Speaker 2: on South Australian beaches on mass in recent months. A

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Speaker 2: toxic algal bloom has been lingering off the state's coast

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Speaker 2: since at least March, and it's been blamed for the

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Speaker 2: deaths of these animals. This is a story that has

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Speaker 2: now gained national attention, with the federal government announcing funding

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Speaker 2: to address the crisis this week, but as calls for

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Speaker 2: the government to declare a national disaster mount, scientists are

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Speaker 2: warning the danger could spread to other states. Today we're

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Speaker 2: going to unpack everything you need to know about this story,

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Speaker 2: including the science behind it and what it means for

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Speaker 2: the future. But before we get into today's deep dive,

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Speaker 2: here is a quick message from our sponsor.

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Speaker 1: And this is one of those stories that has been

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Speaker 1: around for a while, but I feel like in the

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Speaker 1: past week in particular, it's really gained national momentum. Now,

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Speaker 1: I'm sure those of us listening in South Australia are

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Speaker 1: very well aware of what is happening. But for those

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Speaker 1: of us who are not in South Australia, do you

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Speaker 1: want to just take it right back to basics and

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Speaker 1: explain what is algol bloom? Yeah? Am I saying it right?

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Speaker 1: Algal bloom?

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Speaker 2: Yes, it's an algal bloom. It's one of those stories.

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Speaker 2: I think that because it's been around for so long,

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Speaker 2: people might feel like it's gotten away from them, you know,

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Speaker 2: those big news stories.

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Speaker 1: But that's me.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and you know, pay attention at the right moment.

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Speaker 2: And it's really complicated. So hopefully we will sort that

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Speaker 2: out for you, Billy and others like you today. Let's

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Speaker 2: start with what algae are. So in the simplest terms,

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Speaker 2: there are a broad group of aquatic plants that live

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Speaker 2: and grow in the sea and in freshwater. Now, some

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Speaker 2: algae can be large seaweeds. Other species are microscopic, so

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Speaker 2: completely invisible to the human eye. But algae plays a

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Speaker 2: vital role in marine ecosystems, so algae isn't always the

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Speaker 2: bad guy. They are a food source for many organisms.

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Speaker 2: They produce a large chunk of Earth's oxygen through photosynthesis.

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Speaker 2: I remember that one from U ten geography exactly. So

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Speaker 2: that's for another day talking photosynthesis. But as good as

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Speaker 2: algae and as important as algae is, in some conditions,

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Speaker 2: algae can grow out of control. Now, when that happens,

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Speaker 2: it has a negative impact on marine ecosystems, And that's

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Speaker 2: what's happening right now in South Australia in an event

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Speaker 2: known as a harmful algal bloom. Now, depending on the

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Speaker 2: type of algae, some blooms produce toxins that can kill

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Speaker 2: fish or other marine life like seabirds, or even cause

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Speaker 2: human illness. But other non toxic algae blooms can still

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Speaker 2: be just as devastating because the oxygen these algae colonies

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Speaker 2: consume essentially suffocate animal species and other plants.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so we know that an algal bloom has happened

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Speaker 1: in the waters in South Australia. Yep. Do we know

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Speaker 1: what has caused that?

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Speaker 2: Yes? So there has been an increase in these types

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Speaker 2: of events in recent years right around the world, and

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Speaker 2: I'm sure it won't surprise many people to hear that

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Speaker 2: that is because of the increased occurrence of marine heat

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Speaker 2: waves around the world. So in South Australia specifically, a

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Speaker 2: marine heat wave began to spike in September last year,

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Speaker 2: and this essentially has created the perfect conditions for microscopic

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Speaker 2: marine algae called phytoplankton to grow out of control. So

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Speaker 2: the specific algae involved in this bloom is called Corinia michmotoi,

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Speaker 2: which produces reactive oxygen molecules that are harmful to fish gills.

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Speaker 2: Scientists say that there are a whole heap of factors

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Speaker 2: pretty much that have contributed to the intensity of the

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Speaker 2: algal bloom in South Australia. So the marine heat wave

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Speaker 2: that brought above average sea temperatures roughly two and a

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Speaker 2: half degrees warmer than normal, as well as karma conditions

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Speaker 2: so light winds, small swells, so the ocean is more

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Speaker 2: still things animals, plants, species that would be moved around

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Speaker 2: by the kind of natural turbulence of the ocean are not. Additionally,

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Speaker 2: there was flooding in the Murray River in twenty twenty

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Speaker 2: two and twenty twenty three. That flooding washed extra nutrients

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Speaker 2: freshwater nutrients into the sea and basically what experts say

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Speaker 2: is that it's a combination of all of those factors

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Speaker 2: that have essentially created this perfect storm, the ideal conditions

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Speaker 2: for algae to bloom in places it really shouldn't be.

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Speaker 1: Right, and the marine heat wave that is a symptom

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Speaker 1: of climate change exactly.

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Speaker 2: So there is a lot of research yet to be

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Speaker 2: done definitively in this space, but there is kind of

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Speaker 2: undeniable anecdotal evidence that with rising sea temperatures there is

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Speaker 2: this trend of marine heat waves, have increased incidents of

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Speaker 2: those and with them these harmful algal blooms right around

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Speaker 2: the world.

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Speaker 1: Got it? And what do we know about the scale

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Speaker 1: and the impact of this algal bloom in South Australia.

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Speaker 2: Yes, so it was first detected around Essays, Fluru Peninsula,

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Speaker 2: the York Peninsula and Kangaroo Island, but it's now expanded

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Speaker 2: to Adelaide's metropolitan beaches, further north and to the west beyond.

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Speaker 2: So the Biodiversity Council estimates that more than four hundred

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Speaker 2: and thirty species of marine animals have been killed. When

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Speaker 2: we're thinking about the impact, so thousands and thousands of

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Speaker 2: four hundred and thirty species. It was hoped that the

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Speaker 2: winter waters would kind of weaken the bloom, that it

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Speaker 2: would dissipate, that cooler waters would come through and move

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Speaker 2: the algae. But this hasn't happened. Again, there's that marine

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Speaker 2: heat wave, and so because this type of algae damages

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Speaker 2: fish gills, essentially what's happening is these animals are being suffocated.

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Speaker 2: It's awful to think about, but that is what's happening.

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Speaker 2: That's why we're seeing mass deaths of all kinds of animals,

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Speaker 2: including rarely encountered deep border sharks, iconic leafy sea dragons,

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Speaker 2: all types of different rays, rock, lobsters, crabs, squid, octopus more.

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Speaker 2: If you want to look at this, and I don't

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Speaker 2: blame you if you want to avoid it, but there

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Speaker 2: are just hundreds of really macarb images of the coastline

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Speaker 2: of beaches across South Australia that are just littered with

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Speaker 2: these corpses of these animals.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I've also seen images of seals and dolphins washing

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Speaker 1: up on beaches in South Australia too. Is that also

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Speaker 1: linked well?

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Speaker 2: The images that we're seeing of dolphins and seals. This

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Speaker 2: has sparked a bit of a different conversation or debates.

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Speaker 2: So those animals are mammals. The other animals like the

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Speaker 2: invertebrates fish sharks, sharks or a type of fish gild animals.

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Speaker 2: Basically we understand why they are washing up and why

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Speaker 2: they are dying from the bloom. Officials have confirmed that

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Speaker 2: the bloom has been detected in the Port River, which

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Speaker 2: is home to the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary, but the South

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Speaker 2: Australian Government's advice is that the specific algae in this

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Speaker 2: bloom isn't toxic to mammals. It instead has explained mammal

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Speaker 2: deaths on wild weather rather than the blooms. So in

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Speaker 2: winter there is an increase in storms. Storm swells in

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Speaker 2: the ocean can sometimes lead to an increase in mammals

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Speaker 2: washing up, but experts say the number of mammals that

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Speaker 2: we're seeing dying it doesn't really add up with that

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Speaker 2: theory of storms, so some scientists suggest that a neurotoxin

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Speaker 2: called brevetoxin could be a factor. So I mentioned that

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Speaker 2: some algal blooms are non toxic algae, some are toxic algae,

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Speaker 2: and the South Australian Government has since confirmed that toxic

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Speaker 2: poisons have been detected around the Air Peninsula, with authorities

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Speaker 2: enacting temporary beach closures on July nine, where brevitoxins were found.

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Speaker 2: That's a really really small amount of toxins. It's not

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Speaker 2: entirely clear how linked the presence of those toxins are

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Speaker 2: to the rest of the algal bloom, but it is

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Speaker 2: certainly caused for concern and it would explain the mammals

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Speaker 2: that are also washing up.

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Speaker 1: Okay, So to be clear, we do know that this

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Speaker 1: algal bloom has caused the death of several hundreds or

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Speaker 1: thousands of four hundred and thirty species, which includes things

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Speaker 1: like fish, But when it comes to mammals like the

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Speaker 1: dolphins and the seals, we aren't one hundred percent sure

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Speaker 1: that there is a link there, but there are suspicions

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Speaker 1: that it could be.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, marine ecologists are pretty much saying that there

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Speaker 2: is a relationship and we can't hide from that. But

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Speaker 2: there's also this kind of pressure on testing, and with

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Speaker 2: the bloom being so widespread, it's been hard for government

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Speaker 2: resources to kind of keep up with the demand of

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Speaker 2: the locations and the testing required, and the amount of

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Speaker 2: time it takes to kind of get those water samples,

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Speaker 2: take them to the lab, recover the corpses, of the animals,

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Speaker 2: conduct and necropsies like an autopsy on an animal after

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Speaker 2: their death to determine the cause of death of those animals.

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Speaker 2: I suppose it's the scale of the situation is just

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Speaker 2: so enormous that authorities are struggling to kind of keep

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Speaker 2: up and deliver answers at the pace of the questions

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Speaker 2: that are coming up.

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Speaker 1: With this happening in waters and at beaches in South Australia.

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Speaker 1: I know it's winter, so maybe not many people are

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Speaker 1: going for a swim, but for those who maybe are,

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Speaker 1: is there any risk to people?

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Speaker 2: So this is where understanding the type of algae in

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Speaker 2: the harmful bloom becomes really important. So current essay health

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Speaker 2: advice is that the algae quote does not produce a

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Speaker 2: toxin that is harmful to humans, but exposure can cause

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Speaker 2: skin irritation, eye irritation, and respiratory symptoms. However, because traces

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Speaker 2: of brevitoxins that neurotoxin I mentioned have been detected and

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Speaker 2: marine ecologists have pointed out that additional harmful species are

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Speaker 2: likely present in the bloom mix, there are some concerns

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Speaker 2: about dangers to human health. So if brevitoxin's become more prevalent.

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Speaker 2: What happens in serious cases is they can lead to

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Speaker 2: nerve damage, spasms, paralysis, respiratory distress, headaches, nausea, a whole

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Speaker 2: suite of more serious symptoms. Wow.

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Speaker 1: And this week the federal government announced funding to address

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Speaker 1: the crisis. What's happening there?

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Speaker 2: Yes, so we saw the Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt

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Speaker 2: visits South Australia this week where he announced fourteen million

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Speaker 2: dollars in federal funding for research to help affected businesses

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Speaker 2: like fishes, tourism operators, community support and funding for the

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Speaker 2: cleaning up of all the dead marine life. The Premiere

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Speaker 2: of South Australia, Peter malinowskis he has been calling for

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Speaker 2: a formal natural disaster declaration. Basically that is a formality

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Speaker 2: that would unlock extra funds, so it would compel the

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Speaker 2: government to distribute more funding and more support for the

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Speaker 2: efforts as we kind of learn more about this bloom.

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Speaker 2: But Murray Watt said the bloom hasn't met the strict

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Speaker 2: definition for a natural disaster, but he hasn't ruled out

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Speaker 2: tweaking the criteria or having more conversations about that in

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Speaker 2: the future.

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Speaker 1: And what are experts saying about the broader implications of this.

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Speaker 2: Yes, So we've heard from the University of Melbourne's Associate

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Speaker 2: Professor John Moraello, who said the bloom has quote wreaked

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Speaker 2: havoc with the region's marine ecosystem, devastating fisheries and aquaculture industries.

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Speaker 2: Now quickly touching on the kind of concerns for commercial fisheries.

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Speaker 2: This is multi layered, but basically, so many fish are

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Speaker 2: dying that fisheries are saying there's nothing left to catch.

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Speaker 2: There's also a concern that the fish they are catching

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Speaker 2: are unwell, and then you've got to think about the

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Speaker 2: kind of longer term implications on consumer attitudes. So if

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Speaker 2: we're all hearing about this algal bloom, does that change

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Speaker 2: the way we think about South Australian seafood products? Does

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Speaker 2: that mean we're not going to want to buy them?

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Speaker 2: Green spokesperson Sarah Hanson Young has called for a rescue

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Speaker 2: package compro to the government's COVID response. The Greens have

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Speaker 2: been really vocal in this space from the early days

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Speaker 2: of the bloom. They want a natural disaster declaration. We

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Speaker 2: have heard from the new Shadow Environment Minister Angie Bell,

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Speaker 2: she's accused the government of being completely flat footed to

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Speaker 2: use her words. In its response after Murray what visited

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Speaker 2: South Australia. Angie Bell said that he was trying to

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Speaker 2: palm this off as a state issue that Labour needs

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Speaker 2: to do more. But Angie Bell did say quote the

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Speaker 2: Coalition stands ready to work constructively with the Government to

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Speaker 2: prevent any further devastation from the toxic algal bloom.

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Speaker 1: And I guess my last question is what happens next.

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Speaker 1: Is that any hope of the situation improving?

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Speaker 2: There is one ray of hope which I know this

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Speaker 2: can sound really devastating and for the people impacted by

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Speaker 2: it in South Australia, for marine scientists, for that whole community,

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Speaker 2: seeing these endangered species, these deep water creatures washing up

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Speaker 2: dead on beaches has been completely devastating. But the good

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Speaker 2: news is a bioluminescent algae that feeds on the harmful

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Speaker 2: algae that we've seen in this bloom. So the Kerna Mikemoito.

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Speaker 1: Wow, you've done really well with the science jargon today.

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Speaker 2: I got that wrong. It's the harmful Kernia michemoid toy

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Speaker 2: god as how you say it.

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Speaker 1: I was going to correct you you're a stickler.

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Speaker 2: For these pronunciations, but also forgive me audience if I'm not.

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Speaker 2: This bioluminescent algae, which I'm not even to attempt to pronounce,

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Speaker 2: has been spotted in the region in the waters of

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Speaker 2: South Australia. Why that matters, apart from bioluminescent algae looking

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Speaker 2: very cool, is that this algae can eat the harmful algae.

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Speaker 2: So scientists are hoping or watching and waiting to see

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Speaker 2: if this bioluminescent algae is going to feed on the

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Speaker 2: harmful bloom, which would reduce the numbers of this harmful

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Speaker 2: algae and help bring an end to this disaster. But

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Speaker 2: it is such a complex environmental crisis there are no

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Speaker 2: easy answers, and we keep monitoring the situation. I do

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Speaker 2: also just want to reiterate there's so much we don't

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Speaker 2: know yet. So while there are these concerns about the brevitoxins,

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Speaker 2: the neurotoxins, the harmful algie, what we know about that

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Speaker 2: is that it's been discovered in small amounts in some areas.

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Speaker 2: It's not, so far as we know, widespread. So I

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Speaker 2: don't want people to be unnecessarily concerned or alarmed. I

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Speaker 2: think it's good for people to be wary. This is

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Speaker 2: a really concerning situation, but it's not you know, panic

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Speaker 2: stations in terms of what we're buying it the supermarkets

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Speaker 2: just yet.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, we will keep a very close eye on it.

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Speaker 1: And you are our amazing science correspondent. You're specifically extremely

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Speaker 1: good at all things marine sea life.

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Speaker 2: Thank you so much. My high school teachers would probably

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Speaker 2: have a heart attack. And when we're talking about this

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Speaker 2: these days, considering I was really bad at it, it's

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Speaker 2: all no.

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Speaker 1: You have explained that so well. Thank you so much

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Speaker 1: for taking us through that.

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Speaker 2: Thanks for having me.

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Speaker 1: And thank you so much for listening to this episode

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Speaker 1: of The Daily os. We'll be back this afternoon with

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Speaker 1: your evening headlines, but until then, have a great day.

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Speaker 1: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda

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Speaker 1: Bujelung Kalkadoon woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges

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Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the

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Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and torrest

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Speaker 1: Rate island and nations. We pay our respects to the

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Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present,