Giant Cuttlefish Population

The Hon. F. PANGALLO (15:10): I seek leave for a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development regarding cuttlefish.

Leave granted.

The Hon. F. PANGALLO: The government recently announced that cuttlefish breeding in the north of Spencer Gulf had proceeded successfully, which did not necessitate using the air bubble curtain, installed at a cost of $700,000 to taxpayers. My questions to the minister are:

1. Is the air bubble curtain operational and has it been activated and, if so, on how many occasions?

2. Can and will it be left in place for following breeding seasons, considering the advice is that this bloom will ebb and flow in our gulf for several years?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (15:11): I thank the honourable member for his question. I will just correct that last part: it is that the algal bloom may ebb and flow in our gulfs for the next however many years. The biggest challenge around the harmful algal bloom is that we don't know how it will behave. We can look at how similar blooms have behaved elsewhere around the world, but it will not necessarily behave in the same way and that is why we have needed to have in place a number of different measures trying to mitigate the bloom as best we can and, on this particular topic, in terms of protecting the iconic giant Australian cuttlefish.

This is iconic and world renowned. It is the only place where we have that type of aggregation of cuttlefish for their breeding season each year. That is why it was so important to put in place additional measures in case the algal bloom did reach that area. We are fortunate that, to date, that has not occurred and, as the honourable member mentioned in his question, breeding has been able to continue. It has been achieved, which is a wonderful outcome, but it was important to have that protection in place.

In answer to the question of whether it is still in place, the plan is to have it removed so that it does not deteriorate in the marine environment between now and next year and then it can be brought out again if needed in the event that we do have either an ongoing or a new harmful algal bloom. That means that it is an asset that we have that can be used in the future. Indeed, I understand there is work going on to see whether there are alternative uses as well. So this is an important piece of infrastructure that we now have. It is important to be able to protect what is an iconic species in the Upper Spencer Gulf.