Calls for Royal Commission into South Australia's coastline crisis

There are calls for a Royal Commission into the algal bloom with anglers warning Yorke Peninsula's economy is dying alongside its marine life. With fish disappearing fast, some businesses have already been forced to shut up shop.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Curious minds trying to make sense of a climate change catastrophe.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Order animals are watching up there.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Clapsack kids gathered at Largs Bay for a lesson on
why the water is now off limits.

Speaker 3 (00:16):
They've had a lot of questions over the last few
months about the dying marine life and why they're not
able to go into the water for board training.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
But sea creatures aren't the only casualties. Stansbury fisherman Andrew
Pisani says the algal bloom is sucking the life out
of York Peninsula.

Speaker 4 (00:34):
Tourism's dropped off well over fifty percent there now. A
lot of businesses are going to go down with this,
and York Clincher will not survive.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
At Port Wakefield, the outlook is grim.

Speaker 5 (00:45):
We've seen the squid in our area disappear and calamary.
Everybody loves kalamari, we just we don't see it anymore,
and that makes up thirty percent of our wage.

Speaker 6 (00:57):
We've already announced half a million dollars in fee relief
for the fishing industry, and we've said we're looking at
doing more.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
The opposition ones a royal commission.

Speaker 7 (01:06):
I think that's a small price to pay when you
consider the seafood industry which brings in hundreds of millions
of dollars.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Each year to this state.

Speaker 4 (01:13):
We believe that the people in South Australia, they will
not see their seafood on their plate.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Local authorities insists the seafood that's caught fresh remains safe
to eat, but fishermen say consumers are no longer convinced,
with many now questioning whether what they're buying could make
them sick.

Speaker 5 (01:30):
It needs to be addressed because apparently the fish are good.

Speaker 2 (01:33):
I've been eating them, honeyhow seven News