Algal bloom crisis worsens as devastation blankets Seacliff, Brighton and Somerton Park beaches

Staggering numbers of dead marine life have washed up on Adelaide beaches overnight, including a swan – raising fears birds are becoming victims.

• Premier faces fishers over disaster

The stench of thousands of fish carcasses and dead marine life met dog walkers on Wednesday morning as Adelaide’s coastline was left littered with the aftermath of what many are calling the worst wave yet of South Australia’s algal bloom crisis.

Beaches including those at Seacliff, Brighton and Somerton Park were blanketed in dead fish, crabs and other marine life, as overnight tides swept in an overwhelming volume of remains, too many to count.

Among the casualties, a dead swan was spotted at Seacliff, raising alarm that birds feeding on the fish could become the next victims of the growing environmental disaster.

Richard Campbell holds his dog Maddy on a short lead and looks at a Black Swan among the dead sea life caused by the toxic algae washed up along Seacliff Beach. Picture: Mark Brake

Dead sea life caused by the toxic algae washed up along Seacliff Beach. Picture Mark Brake

Chris Iwanicai, who has been using the iNaturalist app to track and document the dead marine life washing ashore in recent weeks, said even he was overwhelmed by the scale of the die-off on Wednesday.

“There would be thousands easy,” he said. “It’s a terrible thing to see.”

A dead crab was also found amid the devastation. Picture Mark Brake

Local beachgoer Peter Higgins said the types of fish washing ashore seemed to change by the day.

“It seems to sort of like come in waves a bit, you know, like one day there’ll be a certain species of fish … yesterday there was lots of garfish washed up. And then the next day will be something different, like the flathead fish,” he said.

“It’s just distressing to see all the dead stuff, yeah, and all the sea grass that’s really only just come in the last couple of days.”

The wave of dead marine life has been deemed the worst yet. Picture Mark Brake

Leonie Rankin said seeing the devastation up close had made the scale of the problem impossible to ignore.

“I knew the algal bloom was a problem, I’d seen it on the news but walking along the beach today and seeing all this has just brought it home just how bad things are – it’s horrible,” she said.

It comes as Premier Peter Malinauskas said the size and scale of the bloom made it an “entirely new phenomenon” at a community forum on Tuesday night.

Richard Campbell, who walks his dog Matty along the beach every day, said this week’s wash-up was among the worst he’s witnessed.

“It’s quite depressing and seeing all the dead fish, there seems to be a lot more variety of fish than in the last few weeks,” he said.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen a dead swan down here too, it’s normally just the fish.”

He said the worsening conditions had made him anxious for his dog’s health, prompting him to put him on a lead to stop the pooch eating all the dead fish.

Originally published as Algal bloom crisis worsens as devastation blankets Seacliff, Brighton and Somerton Park beaches