Taskforce to tackle sea creature deaths
ABCUpdated April 4, 2013, 9:35 am
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Dead fish on Hallett Cove beach.
ABC © Enlarge photo
A taskforce will be appointed to investigate the mass death of fish and dolphins in South Australian waters.
Sixteen dead dolphins have washed up during the past month along with thousands of dead fish, two penguins and an unusual amount of sea grass.
The dolphins were were found between Maslins Beach and North Haven, with four on Kangaroo Island and one in the South East which may be unrelated to the other deaths.
The South Australian Museum’s curator of mammals, Catherine Kemper, says most were less than 18 months old.
Marine experts are hoping autopsies on two dolphins could shed light on changing conditions in coastal waters.
Dr Kemper says a post mortem on one of the creatures revealed some organ damage but the results were inconclusive.
“There was E. coli identified near the blow hole of that animal and it didn’t look one hundred per cent inside either so there was some evidence that something was going on in terms of pathology inside,” she said.
“In other parts of the world, fish and dolphins have died as a result of biological toxins entering the system and these happen when you have things like red tides and algal blooms.
“We wouldn’t normally do testing for this but we will this time.”
‘Environmental emergency’
The Government says the taskforce will be made up of a team of scientists from several departments.
State Greens MP Mark Parnell says it has not been properly funded.
“The Government needs to put some money into this. We need to know why these animals are dying, is it purely natural causes? Or is it, as most people suspect, something that we’re doing?” he said.
“Whether it’s pollution or whether it’s climate change, whatever, we need to get to the bottom of it.
“Environmental emergencies need an emergency response and the government will need to find money so that the scientists can do their job properly. There’s not much point bemoaning the death of sea life if you don’t resource the scientists to find out what’s going on.”
Fisheries Minister Gail Gago says the taskforce is adequately resourced.
“Those payments are picked up by either [the Environment Department] or PIRSA and those funds are available from our existing resources to more than adequately cover those costs. So it’s just irresponsible scaremongering,” she said.
“We will continue the testing and seek to find out the underlying cause for that so at this point in time we simply do not know what’s caused the dolphin and penguin deaths.”
The deaths of dolphins are not the only unusual recent incident along Adelaide’s beaches.
Several tonnes of seaweed piled up on Glenelg beach last week.
Days earlier, tens of thousands of dead leather jackets were discovered on beaches along Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent.
The Environment Department said the fish deaths and seaweed piles could both have been caused by unusually high ocean temperatures.
Warmer waters produce large amounts of algae consuming the oxygen needed by the fish.