Environment Minister urges aquaculture industry to take out insurance as government confirms toxic algae has been detected in West Lakes

The algal bloom plaguing South Australian coastlines has been detected in a popular fishing spot a few kilometres from Adelaide, with fears it could spread into other inland waterways.

Aerial pictures of Adelaide. Looking south over West Lakes.

The toxic algal bloom ravaging the SA coastline is in West Lakes, the state government says, as Environment Minister Susan Close suggests businesses in SA’s aquaculture industry take out insurance to deal with the financial impacts of the toxic algal bloom.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Department for Environment and Water that it was conducting further tests to determine if the algal bloom has also entered the Port River, after preliminary samples from West Lakes confirmed the presence of low levels of the Karenia Mikimotoi algae.

Dead sea life from algal blooms at Foul Bay, Yorke Peninsula. Picture: Stefan Andrews courtesy Great Southern Reef Foundation

“Ongoing testing in the Port River, West Lakes, and the along the metropolitan coastline will help provide a clearer picture of the extent of the bloom,” the department said.

Additionally, DEW confirmed they were testing the carcasses of a dolphin and Great White shark that washed ashore on Tennyson and Port Broughton beaches last week, to confirm whether or not the algae bloom contributed to their deaths.

The Port River is home to the Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary, whose water quality is monitored regularly by National Parks and Wildlife Service and Flinders University, in partnership with the Environment Protection Authority.

Deceased Dolphin on Tennyson Beach . Picture: Jasmine Renee

Dr Close suggested on FIVEAA on Tuesday that the aquaculture industry consider “business interruption insurance”, following her announcement on Monday that the bloom could persist on and off for the next 12 months.

“Karenia Mikimotoi is not something that poisons fish so that we have to shut down the entire seafood industry,” Dr Close said.

“That has not happened and we have really good standards in South Australia.”

“Some fishers I know off the north of Kangaroo Island, for a little while they just couldn’t find the fish.”

“So it wasn’t that they weren’t allowed to fish but that the fish weren’t there.”

Dr Close compared the situation to that of SA’s farmers currently experiencing drought.

“It’s really important to have business interruption insurance,” she said.

“I think farmers are used to the fact that we have drought and it’s terrible and they do need some assistance but they also manage for the fact they know that they’re going to have drought.”

“I don’t think people reliant on the seas have been as used to thinking about this kind of thing can happen.”

“So I think one of the lessons that we can take and the industry’s working through right now is what does that mean for how they manage their business, how they managed their insurance.”

Gerri and Steve (pictured) Bowley, have operated oyster leases at Stansbury for the past 7 years.

Yorke Peninsula oyster farmer Steve Bowley said that the unprecedented nature of the algal bloom meant insurers did not offer cover for any financial losses.

“Insurance brokers put together oyster packs for growers that contains all the normal stuff that you’d expect, product liability, public liability, coverage for if someone runs into your lease with a boat, and we’re required to have insurance for Fisheries to indemnify them,” Mr Bowley told The Advertiser.

“All of that is standard and that includes oysters on land, transport, those sorts of things, but it doesn’t include oysters in the water.”

Mr Bowley estimates his business has lost between $40,000 to 50,000 in revenue since PIRSA shut his oyster leases down in May.

“It’s getting to the stage where you can’t sustain that,” he said.

“Something’s got to give.”

Originally published as Environment Minister urges aquaculture industry to take out insurance as government confirms toxic algae has been detected in West Lakes