2025-08-27
canary in the coalmine for the climate crisis
By Sarah Hanson-Young, Senator for South Australia
South Australia’s beaches have become a marine graveyard.
My weekend runs along Brighton’s shoreline, usually a peaceful way to clear my mind, have turned into a heartbreaking exercise in counting dead fish.
Instead of the soothing sound of waves and the salty ocean smell in the air, South Australians are being met with the stark sight of lifeless marine animals washed up along the sand: rays, dolphins, sea lions, and seadragons.
The numbers are staggering. Since the algal bloom began in March, citizen scientists have recorded more than 32,000 dead marine creatures across 480 species.
This environmental catastrophe isn’t random. It's the direct result of a climate-fuelled marine heatwave, exacerbated by nutrient runoff from past flooding. Together, these conditions created the perfect storm for a toxic algal bloom to wreak havoc across more than 500 kilometres of South Australia’s beautiful coastline.
The impact is not just environmental. Our coastal communities are in shock. Our tourism and seafood industries are being decimated. People whose livelihoods depend on healthy oceans are suddenly without income or clarity about what happens next. For many of us, this is not just environmental grief; it's personal, emotional, and deeply frustrating.
The ocean is sending us a clear message; yet the response from our leaders has been slow, scattered, and insufficient.
Since June, I’ve been calling on the Prime Minister to declare this a national disaster, echoing the pleas of community members and local leaders. Such a declaration would unlock crucial funding, not only to support our devastated industries, but to better understand and address the escalating risks of climate-fuelled marine events.
This is not a one-off anomaly. It is the new normal in the face of the climate crisis. South Australia is the canary in the coalmine of the climate catastrophes to come.
I’ll be chairing the parliamentary inquiry into the toxic algal bloom when it meets across South Australia's coast in a few short weeks. I'll be focusing on platforming the voices of scientists, experts and community leaders, as well as interrogating governments for their lack of action.
This week, the Environment Minister announced that he would be fast tracking changes to our environmental laws. But in the face of a climate catastrophe on our beaches and pristine reefs bleaching across the country – as well as weather bombs, cyclones and bushfires becoming a regular occurrence – we know we need environmental laws that stop further climate damage on the environment.
You can trust that the Greens will not give up this fight in parliament.
This isn’t just about one algal bloom or one coastline. This is another warning sign that the climate crisis is here. Our leaders must take this warning seriously. The health of our oceans, the strength of our communities, and the future of our climate are all intertwined.
We owe it to our children, and to the countless animals washing ashore to listen – and to act.