Wildlife Death Toll From South Australian Toxic Algae Likely To Equal Toll Of 2019-20 Black Summer Bushfires

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Scientists are warning the wildlife impacts of a marine heatwave that has driven a catastrophic algal bloom off South Australia are likely to be equivalent to those from the black summer bushfires, and demand a similar response from governments. Experts from five Australian universities say “one of the worst marine disasters in living memory” requires rapid investigation by federal and state governments to identify any at-risk species and fund emergency interventions if necessary.

In a report by the Biodiversity Council, an independent expert group founded by 11 universities, the scientists called on governments to commit to seven actions to respond to the “foreseeable and even predicted” event and to prepare for “an increasingly dangerous and unstable future”.

As expected, the federal Senate on Wednesday night established an inquiry into the disaster that has killed thousands of marine animals off SA. The Coalition senator Anne Ruston earlier accused the federal and SA governments of being too slow to act on the “significant environmental issue”, “allowing it to massively escalate into a serious ecological disaster”.

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Prof Gretta Pecl, a Biodiversity Council member from the University of Tasmania’s Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, said: “At a national level this marine heatwave is likely to have an equivalent impact on wildlife as the black summer bushfires, once we consider not just this harmful algal bloom but also the extensive coral bleaching and mortality on both east and west coasts.” She noted that governments had previously “mobilised significant funds” for natural disasters, “as we saw with the $2bn National Bushfire Recovery Fund, which included over $200m for wildlife recovery measures”.

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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/24/effects-of-marine-heatwave-driving-foreseeable-sa-algal-bloom-could-rival-black-summer-fires-scientists-warn

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