04/08/2026
For two years we watched nervously as the Karenia algal bloom crisis spread through South Australian waters, and while it continues to impact marine wildlife in that State, we are grateful that it has not spread to Victorian waters.
Now, however, we face a deadly new threat in the form of the H5N1 bird flu. Since 2021 it has run amok though wildlife populations of the Southern Ocean, including the deaths of 13,000 elephant seal pups on remote Heard Island last summer. Seabirds are the most effective spreaders of this virus imaginable, as species such as albatrosses and petrels range constantly and widely across vast tracts of ocean searching for food, and frequently come into close contact while competing for food.
Low numbers of seabird mortalities attributed to this virus have been reported in Western and South Australia, but Birdlife Australia has just reported a mass mortality of crested terns at Baudin Rocks, just off Cape Jaffa to the north of Robe, SA. See
https://go.birdlife.org.au/webmail/946822/1450688712/797b2fd66fc6fb2b4e14ed67be7a5fcb16e227398ad5c2c9e6f11723d238807e
Bird flu has entered the Bonney Upwelling, and has the potential to spread further into wild populations of marine birds and mammals, as well as terrestrial wildlife and farmed birds and animals. There has been recent speculation that the disease could even spread to migratory whales. The gannet colony at Lawrence Rocks near Portland, one of Australia's largest, is now at risk.
Birdlife Australia is calling for the Commonwealth to provide $200M for a Wildlife Resilience Package to protect and restore habitat, reduce avoidable threats, support monitoring and rapid response, and safeguard vulnerable breeding colonies, to minimise the spread of this deadly disease. See the BA link above for the letter template.
I encourage you to support this call by sending a letter to your local MP, asking them to support this important initiative.
