‘We’re watching it get worse all the time’: as fish vanish in SA’s algal bloom, livelihoods are also at stake

‘Until this clears we just have to sit back and wait’ … squid fishers like Nathan Eatts were among the first to feel the impact of the algal bloom disaster on their business. Photograph: Tracey Nearmy/The Guardian

Nathan Eatts can remember the last day he caught a squid. It was 18 April, a few weeks after a brown foam and dead marine life began appearing on beaches on South Australia’s Fleurieu peninsula.

“That’s over three months now,” says the third generation squid fisher, whose business, Cape Calamari, is based on the southern Fleurieu peninsula.