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"We're known as the butterfish mob, the Gynburra people. The dusky morwong isn't a table fish that people would see as something that is prized. It's often seen as the rubbish of the sea, but we see it as iconic to our people."
Gary Goldsmith is the director of the Nurungga Nation Aboriginal Corporation - which holds native title over Guuranda, or Yorke Peninsula, in South Australia.
He's testifying here at the Senate inquiry investigating the algal bloom that is killing hundreds of species of fish, including Gynburra.
"That is about our identity - not just about the fish but our identity. To see it wash up on our shores, not understanding why or how, what the response is going to be; or when state governments or experts are going to come and talk to us about our identity - (and) our relationship with Sea Country. It has been quite - in my view - disrespectful. It's been quite damning that we can't be part of the conversation."
It's an issue that's causing deep distress across the community, with one third of South Australia's coastline currently affected to some extent.
The main algae species involved is Karenia mikimotoi. Like other algae, it's naturally present, but normally not at these deadly levels.
The algae kills fish by clogging their gills, causing mass marine mortality that has continued now for several months.
The large-scale bloom was initially identified in March, but there may have been earlier warning signs.
Ecologist Faith Coleman is based in South Australia.
"First, traditional owners in the southeast talking to me about strange issues with their seaweeds in November."
In aerial photographs, she says, it looked like seaweed was melting off rocks, most likely due to a prolonged marine heatwave.
It's likely that heatwave helped trigger the algal bloom, and Ms Coleman suspects decomposing weed further fuelled it's grow.
"Then fisherman around Boatswain Point. Then, finally, surfers and media regarding the southern Fleurieu beaches. It has not left off since."
By early March, the South Australian government was hearing from around 100 surfers, complaining of short-term eye irritation, coughs and respiratory issues.
Since then, the government has been playing catch up, with research responses and support for communities sometimes criticised as being too slow.
Commercial fisherman Bart Butson remembers watching with dread as the bloom approached.
"It was like a curtain of doom. Honestly, I'm hearing from these fishermen, the same. You're not going to like this when this comes, this is this is terrible. The fish disappear overnight, and/or they move."
He says he felt hopeless as the crisis played out.
"We noticed that the cuttlefish were on the top of the water dead. We could see hundreds and hundreds just one day after a storm. And then from that point on, within two weeks, there was just no squid. And I haven't seen a squid since. And then the garfish disappeared a little bit after that. And I guess I'm just talking about the commercial species, but we also witnessed dead white pointer sharks, dead gummy sharks, dead bronze whale of sharks, dead fiddler rays, dead smooth rays. All of the bottom feeding fish died quickly as well."
Fish from South Australia is still safe to eat, so long as it's alive when its caught, and properly cleaned. But with a commercial catch now impossible for many, Bart Butson believes fish stocks do need a break.
The South Australian Research and Development Institute is conducting a rapid fish-stock assessment, as part of a broader research blitz.
In the meantime, the commercial fishing industry has welcomed the support provided so far, but they say more will be needed.
"This could be achieved by continuing with a more extensive grant system or the government perhaps leasing back some quota - or a combination. There may need to be some actual purchasing back for fishing licenses to retire some fishers - because they just can't see a way through this. And the industry will need help to hold its skilled employees."
For now, funding is drawn from a $28 million package announced in July by the state and federal governments.
It includes business support grants; and it also covers the immediate cost of science and monitoring, a new national toxin testing lab, mental health services; and initiatives to support the tourism sector.
"Visitation is clearly down."
That's Adam Gray, executive officer at the South Australia Coastal Councils Alliance.
"So it's in excess of 40 per cent lower in some areas than what it would normally be. There are caravan parks that are expressing that where they would normally have people there and be relatively full. It's empty. We're seeing camping bookings well down. We're seeing boat-ramp income well down as well. So we know that people are avoiding it."
For many councils, the algal bloom has undercut revenue while driving up costs.
Holdfast Bay Council says it has cleaned up 140 tonnes of dead marine life, seaweed, and sand.
York Peninsula Council's deputy mayor, Richard Carruthers, says his community's mental health has taken a hit.
"It's really disturbing for our town. There wasn't a person on our jetty - not a person. And in school holidays, normally there are hundreds of kids. And it's really disturbing and some of the parents came back, and they couldn't get their children off the jetty quick enough; because all they could see on the bottom was silver. And the kids were saying, 'What's on the bottom?' and it was just dead fish. It was like a carpet of dead fish. We don't know how it affects children."
The spread and sustained presence of the algal bloom have caught the state and federal governments off guard.
The Senate inquiry heard the state government didn't notify their federal counterparts for more than two months.
The South Australian government contests this, but the suggestion adds to questions about whether research and information campaigns could have been rolled out sooner.
While there was some criticism, those that testified at the inquiry were largely focused on finding ways to rebuild environmental and economic resilience.
"It would give us a purpose."
That's Bart Butson again.
"The fisherman are lost. There are 40 or 50 guys in Gulf St Vincent that are not doing anything. They need a purpose and they want to be a part of the solution. So anything that the fishing industry can do to utilise its knowledge and equipment would be welcomed."
He says industry has been talking to government about supporting scientists conducting the rapid fish stock assessment.
"So we would just go to collect the data, and I would do that by using my haul net in the areas that we usually fish and catch garfish and calamari and whiting. We would just do a sample. And for a portion of those days, we would have people from the science community with us to show us how to set up to guide us."
An army of citizen scientists have already been crucial to collecting data on the extent of marine mortality and algae levels.
Traditional Owners like Garry Goldsmith say they want to be part of finding solutions as well.
"It's now mixing cultural ways and Western ways to be able to manage Sea Country, and I think that's where the conversations need to be had around the table, and in a respectful manner."
He says Indigenous rangers should be engaged as part of ongoing monitoring and management efforts.
"We're getting ahead of the game to put forward solutions to government about how we can be resourceful; and how we can provide some solutions around working with local organisations, state government and experts - to really manage the Sea Country and the response to it."
The state government is currently working on what it calls a summer plan to guide research, monitoring and management, if the bloom persists over coming months.
Academic experts testified to the need for more science funding in the short, medium and longer term.
Stefan Andrews is the co-founder of the Great Southern Reef Foundation.
"Our submission recommends a two-stage federal investment. First, $6 million over two years to kickstart the coordinated framework to deliver the Great Southern Reef's first cross-state biodiversity health check. Second, a $40 million 10-year Great Southern Reef integrated monitoring program co-designed with governments, First Nations, science and community partners."
He says the bloom is a warning for what climate change means for marine ecosystems - and particularly temperate reefs.
The fact it has happened now in South Australia means it's more likely to recur, especially as temperatures continue to rise.
There is widespread acknowledgement a national framework is needed to improve preparedness into the future.
Professor Craig Simmons is South Australia's Chief Scientist.
"I think it's abundantly clear that we need to work towards not just a state-based but a national early-warning system for harmful algal blooms. We need to be looking at funding and supporting real-time toxin detection. So again, the early-warning and predictive capacity is key here. That all needs to link with predictive modelling and ecological monitoring."
Professor Simmons says state governments should work more closely with parts of the CSIRO, Bureau of Meteorology, and other federal agencies.
"And one of the things that we've been discussing is the possibility of creating a national centre for harmful algal blooms."
Beyond the immediate crisis, there are interventions that could help build long-term resilience.
Among the most promising is the regeneration of natural oyster beds.
Gary Goldsmith again.
"We call them birra-ungky. You know they were destroyed back in the early 1900s with large dragnets, never to be replaced."
Birra-ungky are a natural predator of the algal species Karenia mikimotoi. And they're just one example - but ecologist Faith Coleman says 1,500 linear kilometres of native oysters have been removed.
She says if they had not been destroyed, the harmful algal bloom would have likely dispersed sooner.
In 2018, South Australia's government completed a 20-hectare regeneration trial.
Mr Goldsmith says he'd like to see the project expanded on a much greater scale.
"This part of the country would have been a lot more protected - or a lot more resilient - if those (measures) were in place. Our people would have seen that. They ate birra-ungky. We still eat birra-ungky. That is a significant part of who we are."
This devastating algal bloom has highlighted how significant the marine ecosystems are for communities across South Australia; and sparked a search for answers about how to protect them in a climate-changed future.
The Senate inquiry is due to report on October 28, with the South Australian government's summer plan also expected in coming months.
