Spencer Gulf, South Australia

Location: Boston Bay, SA (Barngarla Country)

Impact: Aquaculture industry

Focus: Toxic blue-green algal blooms

Circular fish farm pen seen from a drone in the Spencer Gulf. — Fish farm pens located in the Spencer Gulf next to CSIRO’s AquaWatch sensor test site. Credit: CSIRO

The Spencer Gulf in SA is known as Australia’s ‘seafood basket’ with the local industry’s production worth more than $238 million AUD annually. The AquaWatch system is being developed and tested in the region for seafood farmers.

The AquaWatch Spencer Gulf site is one of the first location to complete the initial testing stage. The first stage demonstrated that the system, which draws data from both water-based sensors and satellites, is working as intended.

CSIRO is now exploring opportunities to expand the test site and use this technology to monitor water quality in the bio-rich Spencer Gulf, providing data to inform the local aquaculture industry so seafood farms can use AquaWatch.

Satellites and seafood

With increased temperatures in coastal waters, there can be more stratification of the water column, creating a warm top layer for algae like cyanobacteria to grow. These algal blooms can look quite beautiful from our satellites images but can become harmful when they start producing toxins.

Satellite image showing sediment flow from the Fitzroy River out to Keppel Bay and the Southern Great Barrier Reef. — Satellite image of past algal bloom in the Spencer Gulf region Credit: Jacques Descloitres MODIS Land Rapid Response Team NASA-GSFC

Implications for water management

Early warning: This data offers early warnings of temperature and salinity fluctuations that could pose lethal risks to fish stocks. One impactful threat is algal blooms, which can pose threats to aquaculture through release of toxins or depletion of oxygen supply in the water.

Complementary to existing systems: AquaWatch can be a value add to existing water quality testing which is often time consuming and labour intensive.

Expanded scale: AquaWatch’s near-real time monitoring enables scalable surveillance and facilitates data-driven decision-making. This allows aquaculture farmers to monitor water in broader areas outside their seafood pens.