Algal bloom leaving ‘abandoned’ sardine fishing grounds in its wake
Sardine and tuna growers are telling a federal inquiry unclear algal bloom information and “relentless” media coverage are impacting South Australian seafood producers despite their catch being safe to eat.
Sardine and tuna producers told a federal Senate inquiry into the South Australian harmful algal bloom of “tremendous uncertainty” for reeling seafood businesses at the second hearing held in Port Lincoln today.
Traditional fishing grounds had been “abandoned”, South Australian Sardine Industry Association executive officer Claire Webber told the inquiry, while lost fishing days and uncertainty about the next season were having an impact.
Sardine businesses also claimed that competing, uncoordinated information that was not in a single access place was making it difficult for the industry to get a broad view of the algal bloom’s impact.
“This season, sardine vessels abandoned traditional fishing grounds in the Gulf of St Vincent and Investigator Strait,” Webber said.
“Sardine and tuna operators face tremendous uncertainty as they plan for our next season.
“The result of the harmful algal bloom disruption has been lost fishing days, higher costs, pressure on employers and regional employment insecurity.”
She stressed that South Australian sardines remained safe to eat, but that “relentless media coverage had shaken consumer confidence, creating unnecessary damage to markets at a time when industry resilience is already under strain”.
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Long-term Port Lincoln tuna farmer John Isle also spoke at the inquiry, and said his industry supported up to 1000 jobs and generated over $100 million in export revenue each year.
“The fishing industry employs a majority of unskilled males aged from 17 to 30 in this community. If the harmful algal bloom resulted in major industry failure, the social and economic impact on Eyre Peninsula would be immeasurable,” he said.
“We would face dire social consequences if they fall onto some form of government assistance.”
Webber said sardines had most likely moved further offshore as a result of the bloom, but that remained to be seen.
“We don’t know, and there is that uncertainty underlying us in the lead-up to the next season,” she said.
Webber said while sardine sales had not fallen, industry fishers do not qualify for the current grant funding available – but “our impact has been in increased costs” and “our catches did decrease significantly”.
“We’ve only caught 28 per cent of our previous amounts out of the Gulf of St Vincent, and most of that was caught prior to the algal bloom really kicking off,” she said.
However, next season remained a challenge: “We’re assuming [the sardines] are moving further offshore”.
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“These indicators were happening last year… the fish were already changing their distribution and moving away from that cold water,” she said.
“And the problem is, when they move offshore, is that we experience more weather out there, a number of our vessels are too small to access that larger ocean environment, and it makes catching so much harder.”
Tuna farmer Isle said the industry’s challenge was “so much competing information coming in”.
“All that coming out of two different departments and having to marry all that up ourselves hasn’t helped, but at least we’ve had that information,” Isle said.
“But having the media adding to the noise about the ‘harmful’ algal bloom, the ‘toxicity’ and all of that, it certainly doesn’t help the case for the rest of the state.”
Yumbah said the direct financial impact sustained was about $5 million – a significant chunk of the company’s $100 million annual revenue target.
CEO David Wood said the business was forced to stand down workers and was suffering from lost harvest potential, enforced industry closure and urgent risk mitigation measures brought on by the crisis engulfing the SA seafood industry.
Great Southern Reef Foundation co-founder Stefan Andrew said the algal bloom had caused the “most extensive marine mortality recorded in South Australia”.
“Yet we still don’t know the true underwater impact because biodiversity monitoring is underfunded and fragmented,” Andrews said yesterday.
Public hearings head to Ardrossan on September 11 and Victor Harbor on September 12.
