Michelle Daw, Yorke Peninsula Country Times

Yorke Peninsula’s commercial fishers have again called for a ban on all fishing in Gulf St Vincent to allow stocks to rebuild.

Russell Boord, of Port Moorowie, said the extent of the damage caused by the bloom required drastic measures, and backed the request for a ban made by commercial fishers to the Senate’s algal bloom inquiry committee in Ardrossan in early September.

“Most commercial fishermen I know are in agreement of shutting the gulf because they can’t go out and catch enough to make a living,” Mr Boord said.

“I know it’s going to hurt the economy but an (environmental) collapse is much worse.”

The state government has employed Mr Boord to do water testing around oyster leases in Gulf St Vincent since 2006.

He said the reason it was known there were brevetoxins around the leases was because those areas were being tested intensively, unlike other areas of the gulf.

Brevetoxins are natural toxins produced by certain microscopic algae in seawater. These toxins can build up in shellfish that feed by filtering water.

“The brevetoxins can’t be just where the oyster leases are, it’s in the whole system,” Mr Boord said.

He said state government officials had admitted that brevetoxins had also been found in the foam that has washed up on beaches as a result of the algal bloom.

Yorketown-based commercial fisher Shane Bishop said he stood by the request he made to Primary Industries Minister Clare Scriven in June for all fishing in the gulf to be closed.

“Stocks in Gulf St Vincent are under extreme duress — losses of biomass, losses of habitat, interrupted spawning season, some species have become prone to overfishing as they move away from the bloom and are confined to smaller areas,” he said.

“I personally would consider any fishing in the gulf as unsustainable. Why is the precautionary principle not being applied in this circumstance?

“Whilst we are hopeful things will rebound quickly once the bloom clears, I am fearful that this won’t be the case — it may take a long time for habitat and stocks to recover.”

“If weather patterns remain consistent with the last few years, we may also see a repeat of this bloom in summer, which will be a nail in the coffin for stocks in this fishery.”

PIRSA fisheries and aquaculture executive director Gavin Begg told a community algal bloom forum in Minlaton on August 14 that decisions about stock management should wait until the completion of “rapid” stock assessments. He said the assessment, which was announced on July 22, had not begun.

In early October, Minister Scriven said fish stock assessments had been “underway for weeks” and completed for the prawn, blue crab, abalone and rock lobster fisheries.

This article appeared in Yorke Peninsula Country Times, 21 October 2025.