This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub Emerging Priorities project "National assessment of harmful algal bloom preparedness and future needs". No data outputs are planned for this project.

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The 2025 South Australian harmful algal bloom (HAB) highlighted major gaps in Australia’s preparedness for large-scale marine HAB events, including limitations in surveillance capability, forecasting systems, coordination arrangements and long-term response planning. While HABs are not new to Australia, the scale, duration and ecological impacts of the South Australian event demonstrated the need for a broader national assessment of HAB science capability and policy readiness.

This project will review Australia’s current capability for HAB surveillance, forecasting, response and management across environmental and seafood-safety domains. It will examine existing monitoring systems, research capability, early-warning approaches, coordination arrangements and operational policy settings across Commonwealth, state and territory jurisdictions.

The review will consider lessons from the South Australian bloom alongside national and international approaches to HAB preparedness and management, including monitoring technologies, forecasting systems and risk mitigation strategies. It will also consider relevant recommendations from the Australian Senate inquiry into the South Australian algal bloom and broader national policy frameworks, including the draft Sustainable Ocean Plan.

Project outputs will include an assessment of current national HAB capability, identification of critical knowledge and operational gaps, and recommendations for improving HAB preparedness, surveillance, forecasting, coordination and response capacity in Australia.

Outputs

• Final technical report [written]