Canberra, July 21 (IANS) The Premier of South Australia (SA) said he has asked the federal government for significant funding to help the state respond to a toxic algae outbreak causing widespread marine destruction.
Peter Malinauskas on Monday said that he has held conversations with the federal government in recent days to ask for millions of dollars in emergency funding in response to the toxic algal bloom.
Since it was first identified in March, the outbreak of the toxic algae Karenia mikimotoi off the coast of SA has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of sea creatures, including sharks, penguins and octopuses, along hundreds of kilometers of coastline.
“This is a natural disaster. It should be treated as a natural disaster and I’ve made my view known very clearly to the federal government this morning,” Malinauskas told News Corp Australia newspapers.
He said that federal government money would build upon state government relief measures for commercial fishers and fund further scientific testing as well as recovery efforts, Xinhua news agency reported.
According to experts, the algal bloom is linked to an ongoing marine heatwave off the SA coast and will not dissipate until there is a significant shift in environmental conditions.
The premier’s comments came as Murray Watt, federal environment minister, on Monday inspected areas affected by the algae.
Politicians, marine experts and conservation groups have urged the federal government to declare the algal bloom as a national disaster, which would streamline government activities and unlock financial assistance for affected communities.
Nina Wootton, a marine scientist from SA’s University of Adelaide, said in a media release on Monday that the algal bloom is a major ecological crisis that is “crying out for help” from the government.
“While not yet formally declared a national disaster, the scale of this event, spanning hundreds of kilometers of coastline and devastating huge numbers of marine life, is unprecedented for the region and demands national attention,” she said.
Malinauskas has called a meeting of the state government’s Emergency Management Cabinet Committee on Tuesday to prepare an action plan.
–IANS
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