South Australian oyster growers are back in the water, cautiously, nearly a year after some harvest areas reopened following a harmful algal bloom. ABC visited Franklin Harbour on the Eyre Peninsula, north-west of Adelaide. The bay was closed for four months and reopened in November. Simon Turner said the oysters are healthy and that dolphins and bottom-feeders are returning, a sign the bay is coming back.

Stock is another matter. Last year, with closures and an unclear future, growers did not put young oysters in when they normally would. An oyster takes 12 to 15 months. Turner now puts stock on hand at about 40% below normal. Government support kept the farm afloat at the worst of the bloom, and since reopening it has been "an extremely good year financially." The production hit, he said, is only being felt now. That is not investment advice and not a statewide balance sheet.

Across Spencer Gulf at Stansbury, Steve Bowley has not put in new stock for at least 18 months. He talks of barnacles and dead weed on gear, about a $400,000 drop in the business's value, and of deaths: one dozen dead in every five, something he has not seen in 20 years. He thinks low oxygen and flow blocked by barnacles kill the weak ones. He had hoped to sell and retire. "I don't think I can get my money back." That is his account, not an official valuation.

Summer is close, and nobody knows if the bloom returns as the water warms. Bowley likens the wait to the sword of Damocles. Peter Treloar, chair of the growers' association, still says the industry feels "relieved": there is production and Christmas sales ahead. Meagan Turner said the ocean runs in the family and that the closure was a mental load. Now, "we can finally breathe."

The government site algalbloom.sa.gov.au says the 2025 bloom was Karenia, harmful to fish. Testing has shown zero or low levels along most of the coast since February 2026. Monitoring continues. State and federal governments have committed more than $160 million to the response. A research report is under review.

The government says commercially sold seafood from South Australian waters is safe to eat. That is not medical or dietary advice for the reader. Self-collected shellfish remain, on the official page, outside testing. Fishing limits are reviewed as stocks are assessed.

ABC shows two speeds on one coast: a recovering bay and a farm that feels worthless. Neither Franklin Harbour's ease nor Stansbury's loss says whether summer brings algae again. Until the next test, the reopening is a fact, and the thin stock is last year's delayed bill.

Image: Saoysters, oyster farm in South Australia, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons; an archive farm, not Franklin Harbour in October 2026.

Sources consulted: South Australian oyster farmers face challenges after algal bloom - ABC News; Algal Bloom Update - Government of South Australia.