A bubble curtain to protect SA’s cuttlefish numbers from the harmful algal bloom hasn’t been turned on
The taxpayer-funded bubble curtain to protect Upper Spencer Gulf cuttlefish sits unused as the government announces a new algae hotline and finalises its plan for summer.
A $675,000 taxpayer funded “bubble curtain” installed last month to protect cuttlefish in the Upper Spencer Gulf from the toxic algal bloom is yet to be turned on.
The 200m by 100m air bubble curtain was installed for a trial run on the Cuttlefish Coast Sanctuary Zone around Point Lowly, which Premier Peter Malinauskas said would protect 50,000-80,000 cuttlefish eggs and hatchlings.
But SARDI executive director Professor Mike Steer said on Thursday the technology that creates an underwater barrier and can disrupt the movement of algae hasn’t been turned on once.
“It hasn’t been operating, we haven’t had to turn it on,” he said.
“It stands there ready if we need it. The counts (of algae cells) aren’t elevating to a level that is concerning us at this stage.
“However, we’re still maintaining a level of surveillance.”
Premier Peter Malinauskas said in August the bubble curtain was “not a technology which could be deployed in very many circumstances” but it “is the judgement of our scientists that it is worth investing a bit of effort in to protect a certain percentage of cuttlefish eggs”.
Professor Steer said during the weekly algae update on Thursday that cuttlefish eggs in the Upper Spencer Gulf were hatching “as nature intended”.
“We have teams out there actually assessing the rates of hatching of those cuttlefish,” he said.
“Once we get over a certain threshold then we know that there’ll be no need for that bubble curtain going forward.”
While $675,000 of taxpayer money is bubbling away, additional funding has been pledged to the establishment of an algal bloom phone hotline to provide “accurate, timely and consistent information” to South Australians.
The free 1800 774 779 hotline will allow callers to select the information they want to access, including general information about the bloom, ask questions about industry support, and report fish kills.
Premier Peter Malinauskas said the hotline is “another measure to help the community stay informed”.
“We know some people will continue to have questions about the bloom, especially if it continues to affect parts of our coastline over summer,” Mr Malinauskas said.
“No matter what your question or query is, if you’re engaging in good faith, we’ll do our best to provide you the answers that we can with official, accurate, science based information.”
Mr Malinauskas said the long-awaited summer plan, which he described as “rather complex”, would be revealed this month, and that new funding was being sought.
“We are developing this summer plan in conjunction with the Commonwealth,” he said.
“We’re in the process of finalising that with the view of having the summer plan released publicly this month.”
Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia called on the government to release the plan quickly at his own press conference on Thursday.
“The government said that the plan would be here in October. Well guess what? We’re in October now. Where is the summer plan?” Mr Tarzia said.
It comes as the bloom continues to lash metropolitan beaches.
On Thursday, waves of foam were spotted at Glenelg beach and Port Noarlunga.
Prof Steer said SARDI would not be testing the foam, as there was “no need to” due to the routine water testing conducted by PIRSA.
“We already get the information that we need from the cell counts, and there’s a really strong correlation between the number of cells in the water and the number of brevetoxins,” he said.
