Over the space of five months, the vast algal bloom in South Australia’s coastal waters has affected more than 450 marine species, devastating many of their populations. Commercial fishers and tourism operators have suffered severe losses.

There is nothing new about algal blooms, which occur from time to time when particular combinations of temperature, sunlight and nutrients allow aquatic microorganisms to multiply at exceptional rates.

But the current catastrophe is being described as completely unprecedented.

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Is there something at play here apart from the normal workings of nature? Does the environmental disaster reflect a new state of affairs, likely to recur semi-regularly from now on? And are human actions, including........

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