Testing underway amid water quality concerns at Boatswain Point in SA's south-east
By Elsie Adamo
ABC South East SA
Topic:Fishing and Aquaculture Industry
12m ago12 minutes agoThu 20 Mar 2025 at 9:35pm
A man wearing a T-shirt crossing his arms in front of a bay with seaweed and cliffs
Boatswain Point commercial fisher Todd Dickenson stopped fishing earlier this week due to poor water condition. (ABC South East SA: Elsie Adamo)
In short:
A fisher in South Australia's south-east has stopped fishing due to poor water quality that he says is harming marine life.
He says the shallow waters near Boatswain Point have also given him skin issues.
What's next?
Testing is now underway by the EPA and PIRSA to determine any problems within the area.
A commercial fisher in South Australia's south-east is calling for an urgent investigation into what he describes as significant changes in seawater quality that are harming marine life and his livelihood.
Professional marine scale fisher Todd Dickenson has been observing unusually warm water temperatures, excessive seagrass, and distressed marine animals in his fishing areas near Boatswain Point, north of Robe.
He also claims to have experienced skin problems after swimming in the area.
"One hundred per cent there's something going on. There has been for a couple of months," he said.
"I've never seen anything like it before."
A decomposing seal on a beach
A dead seal washed up on Long Beach, north of Robe. (ABC South East SA: Elsie Adamo)
Mr Dickenson's concerns come amid testing near Victor Harbor, about 200 kilometres to the north-west, where surfers reported falling ill following swimming in foamy water along with dead octopuses and other fish washing up on the shore.
Marine life sick in warm water
The water Mr Dickenson fishes in has been significantly warmer than usual according to his boat's readings, observed at up to 23 degrees Celsius.
Mr Dickenson said fish and octopuses in the ocean appeared to be unwell.
"We've picked up a lot of octopus off the bottom that are very docile. It's like they're starved of oxygen," he said.
Boatswain Point resident Donna Isaacson walks along Long Beach most days and has noticed an increase in sea creatures such as seals washing up on the beach.
"You would normally see one a month. At the moment it is closer to one or two a week," she said.
Seaweed around a bay with a boat in it
Water at Boatswain Point near Robe gave fisher Todd Dickenson skin problems. (ABC South East SA: Elsie Adamo)
On a good day Mr Dickenson would usually swim out to his dinghy, a practice he has had to stop doing in recent weeks.
"I felt sick from jumping in the water. I was getting really bad sores on my skin," he said.
"You could feel it actually burning you."
At time of publishing no complaints about water quality had been reported to the District Council of Robe.
Fish not biting
The impacts from the changes in the water have had significant impacts to Mr Dickenson's business.
"It's taking me over a week to catch what I usually would in a day," he said.
"I've basically been wasting my time fishing every day and not getting many results back."
A man looking over a bay with rocks
Todd Dickenson says fish in the local waters are not acting in a way he recognises. (ABC South East SA: Elsie Adamo)
It is the second bad season in a row for Mr Dickenson, who also saw a drop in fish numbers last year due to the prolonged Bonney coast upwelling.
If the problems keep up much longer he said he would need consider leaving the industry — a devastating blow for the seventh-generation fisher.
"It's keeping me up at night," he said.
Testing underway
Blackish water among waves at the beach
Discoloured seawater has been a regular occurrence at Boatswain Point in recent months. (ABC South East SA: Elsie Adamo)
The Environment Protection Authority (EPA) says a micro-algal bloom could be to blame for the situation near Victor Harbor.
EPA principal marine scientist Sam Gaylard said the agency was unable to say if the issues at Boatswain Point were connected with those on the south coast, though they appeared very similar in some ways.
"One of the things that we can draw similarities to is this phytoplankton bloom that we're seeing along the Fleurieu, where people who have been swimming in those waters are getting some skin irritations," Mr Gaylard said.
"A lot of phytoplankton that bloom can have those affects on people, and can have those effects on the ecology as well."
Seaweed on a beach with rocks
The build-up of seaweed on beaches has been extreme and highly unusual for this time of year. (ABC South East SA: Elsie Adamo)
Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) attended the area this week taking samples for testing.
The EPA will be reviewing the samples and results are expected in the coming week.
Still, any problems identified will likely not be able to be improved through human intervention.
"Largely these issues that we're seeing are climate driven," Mr Gaylard said.
"In terms of the phytoplankton blooms what we're going to have to do is really wait until we get some good mixing conditions — some wind, some tides to be able to start to break up and disperse the phytoplankton."
Satellite imagery from NASA has shown an increased amount of chlorophyll in the water around the southern Fleurieu Peninsula and Kangaroo Island.
A map of South Australia's gulfs with red around the end of the Fleurieu Peninsula to the south
A satellite image showing chlorophyll levels (in red) around the Fleurieu Peninsula (right) on Tuesday. (Supplied: NASA)
Climate change 'making it worse'
Estuarine ecologist Faith Coleman said chlorophyll levels were likely to continue rising as climate change worsened, which would compromise the resilience of marine ecosystems.
"Unless we find a way of restoring what I call the benthos, or the plants and animals that used to occur on the base of these gulfs prior to dredging and all sorts of other things we did to them, we're going to see with climate change a warming in the gulfs and a lack of resilience," she said.
A woman holding a beaker of brown water near water
Estuarine ecologist Faith Coleman testing for algae in the Coorong. (ABC South East SA: Caroline Horn)
Current advice for anyone swimming in South Australian waters is to avoid entering waters that are discoloured or have dead sea animals in the water or on the beach.
Any areas of concern should be reported to the PIRSA Fishwatch Hotline on 1800 065 522.
ABC South East SA — local news in your inbox
Get our local newsletter, delivered free each Friday
Your information is being handled in accordance with the ABC Privacy Collection Statement.
Posted12m ago12 minutes agoThu 20 Mar 2025 at 9:35pm
Copy link
X (formerly Twitter)