Over 11 gruesome kilometres, teams fill bag after bag of marine life killed by SA’s stubborn algal bloom

City of Charles Sturt beach maintenance worker John Hulmes cleans up dead and dying sea creatures at Grange beach in South Australia. Photograph: Tracey Nearmy/The Guardian

The circling, squawking gulls show where the bodies are buried.

Early on a cold winter’s day, mucky foam and seaweed cover the sand at Grange beach – and the dead fish and leafy sea dragons.