{"id":38899,"date":"2025-07-04T19:59:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-04T19:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/38899\/"},"modified":"2025-07-04T19:59:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T19:59:17","slug":"sixth-generation-fishermans-sad-admission-amid-calls-to-declare-national-disaster-off-aussie-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/38899\/","title":{"rendered":"Sixth-generation fisherman’s sad admission amid calls to declare national disaster off Aussie coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

An Aussie angler has made a difficult admission: he hasn\u2019t caught a single squid since April. Nathan Eatts, a sixth-generation commercial fisherman, is increasingly worried he\u2019ll be the last in his family to carry on the trade, because a toxic algal bloom<\/a> is killing all the fish in waters around Adelaide<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cFishing is all I\u2019ve ever done, since I could walk. My dad was a commercial fisherman and he used to take me out as a kid. My grandpa and uncle did the same. It\u2019s in our blood,\u201d the 32-year-old told Yahoo News.<\/p>\n

A perfect storm has killed sharks, rays and other marine life across the Southern Fleurieu Peninsula<\/a> where he\u2019s traditionally fished, and the squid have disappeared. The outbreak is being caused by naturally occurring Karenia mikimotoi <\/a>algae mixed with higher than average nutrients in the sea, increased ocean temperatures, and calm weather.<\/p>\n

It had been hoped that cooler weather during winter would break up the bloom, but instead it’s continued to spread. The problem is occurring right across the Fleurieu and Yorke Peninsulas, Kangaroo Island, and this week it\u2019s been detected on metropolitan beaches and West Lakes<\/a> in Adelaide\u2019s north.<\/p>\n

Nathan is in a similar situation to farmers during the Millenium Drought which crippled agriculture across large parts of NSW and Queensland last decade. He\u2019s just trying to keep busy and carry on the only trade he knows.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some species we can target like whiting, but we\u2019ll only get a dozen or so, which is not enough to make a living off,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it\u2019s a nice day and it\u2019s calm I go fishing. If we do catch a few that\u2019s good, and if we don\u2019t it\u2019s just like every other day. Worst case, I\u2019ve got just enough for my own dinner.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Nathan<\/p>\n

It’s not just his business that Nathan Eatts is concerned about, he’s worried about the health of the ocean. Source: Supplied<\/p>\n

Fishermen want algal bloom declared a national disaster<\/p>\n

What Nathan wants now is to be part of the solution. He wants to know if all of the squid have died, or if they\u2019ve migrated elsewhere.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s like a massive bushfire but it\u2019s under the ocean and we can\u2019t see the full scale of it,” he said.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not the only one wanting to help. Fisherman are normally secretive about their catch, but now they\u2019re sharing intelligence with each other out of care for the industry.<\/p>\n

As the situation continues, there are growing calls for it to be declared a national disaster. Part of the reason is that bills are stacking up, and that\u2019s an issue Nathan is experiencing as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have very high costs in our industry. I personally just got a $13,000 yearly bill from fisheries, but if I can\u2019t catch any fish how am I supposed to pay it?\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s quite stressful, I\u2019ve got a mortgage too.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the bigger issue for him is the environmental toll it’s taking on the ocean he loves.<\/p>\n

\u201cA healthy marine ecosystem means a healthy, viable business. Sustainability is one of my key values, and it\u2019s why my family has been able to fish for six generations,\u201d Nathan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t use nets, everything we do is line caught. We\u2019re all about promoting longevity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Horror moment the ocean turned green<\/p>\n

Prior to the algal bloom, Nathan would catch between 20 and 30kg of squid on an average day. But after a four-day storm over Easter, the oceans died. The last squid he caught was on Good Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of a sudden we couldn\u2019t catch a single thing. The water was all green. It was clear something was wrong,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Being a smart businessman, Nathan had prepared for a rainy day, and had a freezer full of filleted reserve stocks. But after months without a catch, he\u2019s close to running out of supply.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no way of replenishing it. I\u2019m not worried about right now, it\u2019s where we\u2019re going to be in three or four months time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s when it\u2019s going to hit home for a lot of people. When bad things happen it\u2019s always down the track a little bit when the real pain starts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Love Australia’s weird and wonderful environment? \ud83d\udc0a\ud83e\udd98\ud83d\ude33 Get our <\/strong>new newsletter<\/strong><\/a> showcasing the week\u2019s best stories.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An Aussie angler has made a difficult admission: he hasn\u2019t caught a single squid since April. Nathan Eatts,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[20186,4740,31239,31238,50],"class_list":{"0":"post-38899","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-algal-bloom","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-commercial-fisherman","11":"tag-nathan-eatts","12":"tag-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114796741817734413","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}