South Australia's coast has been inundated with a toxic algae bloom, killing aquatic wildlife, closing down industry and leading to calls for a national disaster status. 

In the past four months a toxic marine algae bloom has spread north through Gulf St Vincent, across Kangaroo Island, into Spencer Gulf and around Port Lincoln—and is now edging towards Adelaide’s metro beaches. Last month, it reached the North Lagoon of the Coorong, a Ramsar-listed wetland, where it killed sandworms, crabs and fish, vital food sources for migratory birds and fisheries.

This week we hear from estuarine ecologist Faith Coleman who has been on the frontlines of this ecological crisis about how she discovered it and what it is doing to the environment and community.