Frequently Asked Questions

This grant provides up to $100,000 for eligible licence holders who have been unable to catch or harvest their usual volume of marine species or have had to cease operations due to extended harvest closures.

This grant is for licence holders who:

• Have been unable to catch or harvest their usual volume of marine species
• Have had to cease operations due to extended harvest closures
• Have experienced major reductions in catch due to the algal bloom.

It can be used to cover operational losses, maintain business continuity, and support recovery efforts.

Applications can be submitted via the business.sa.gov.au website.

Yes. While applicants are not eligible for this grant program if they’ve received another State Government grant (as detailed in the Program Guidelines), this does not include the waiving of fees.

Eligible parties are encouraged to pursue both supports.

The Coorong Harvesting Area was closed 1 July 2025 as a seasonal closure and because of Brevetoxin detection.

If you’re unsure whether you’re entitled to an insurance payout for the algal bloom event, or if you have a claim still being assessed, you may still be eligible to apply for and receive a grant.

Applicants who may be, or may become, entitled to an insurance payout will need to disclose any relevant insurance policies to the algal bloom in their application form.

If you receive an insurance payment after being approved a grant, you will be required to reimburse the government when you receive your insurance payout (up to but not exceeding the value of any grant you receive).

If you have already received an insurance payout or are entitled to one, you are not eligible to apply for or receive a grant.

No, the Employee Retention Payments, of up to a maximum of $25,000, are designed as a supplement for employee wage costs in addition to the two General Assistance Payments of up to $100,000 each under the Algal Bloom Fisheries and Aquaculture Assistance Grant.

Applicants must first apply for and be approved to receive two General Assistance Payments under that program to qualify/be eligible.

Only current employees count towards full time equivalent employees. It excludes:

• employees who do not reside in South Australia; and
• contractors, or staff engaged through a contractors – this includes temporary or labour hire staff.

You can count full time, part time and casual staff. More guidance is set out in these FAQs and the guidelines – see Attachment 1: Definitions.

The FTE calculation for different classes of employees is as follows:

• for permanent full time and part time employees, the hours worked per week specified in their employment or agreement or industrial award applicable to their position (or, if there is no contract, the hours of work required by the business); or
• for casual employees, the average hours worked per each employee over the most recent financial year quarter or BAS period prior to your application.

In addition to full-time employees (which are 1.0 FTE), the FTE calculation can also be used to express a part-time or casual employee as a proportion of an employee in an equivalent full-time position.

The proportion is expressed as a decimal fraction of one (to two decimal points). To calculate the FTE for part time or casual employees, divide the number of hours worked per week (excluding overtime hours) for each employee by the normal full-time hours per week of his or her position.

For example, for positions in which 37.5 hours per week is normal full-time:

• A part time permanent employee with contracted hours of 20.0 hrs/week in that position would be 0.53 FTE (20.0 divided by 37.5 = 0.53).
• A full time permanent employee with contracted hours of 37.5 hrs/week in that position would be 1.0 FTE (37.5 divided by 37.5 = 1.0).
• A casual employee who has worked an average of 8 hrs/week in that position over the most recent financial year quarter and BAS period (July – September), would be 0.21 (8.0 divided by 37.5 = 0.21).

An employee cannot be expressed as more than one full-time equivalent (1.0). So even if the work more than 37.5 hours, they will only ever count as one FTE.

Yes, applicants must apply all funding received from an Employee Retention Payment towards only employee wage costs.

Applicants may also apply funding received from a Tier 1 or Tier 2 General Assistance Payment towards employment costs, including wages, at their discretion along with a list of other costs or expenses set out in the guidelines.

Please note applicants will be required to acquit (and provide appropriate supporting documentation) of their use of that funding within 6 months of receiving the Employee Retention Payment.

Yes, casual and part time employees can be counted as FTEs. Permanent part time employees with regular hours are counted according to their contracted hours.

Casual employees are calculated as an average of the hours worked for each employee over the most recent financial year quarter or BAS period prior to the application date.

No, owners, partners, or a beneficiary of a trust, are not considered to be an employee for the purpose of calculating FTE.

If your business has experienced continued impacts from the Algal Bloom over a different three-month period (called an ‘impact period’ in the guidelines), you can apply again for a second or third payment if you meet the eligibility criteria.

Continued impact can be demonstrated by satisfying any one or more of the eligibility pathways in the guidelines (for example, this could be having your licenced fee waived again in a different period, demonstrating another 30% decline in your business turnover, or a closure of a harvest area for an extended period).It may not be the same eligibility criteria as your first application, but it must be a different or later period.

No, the first and second payments follow the same method: an initial $25,000 payment plus an additional amount based on 2023-24 turnover if you meet the 30% turnover decline.

The third payment uses a different. It must relate to a new impact period and is capped at the verified value of your turnover decline, with the amount determined by your annual turnover for 2023-24 or 2024-25.

The third grant is designed to help cover your business’s actual loss during the three-month impact period. This means you cannot receive more than the amount your turnover dropped during that time.

Even if your annual turnover places you in a higher payment band, your payment will be limited to the actual dollar value of your decline.

Yes, eligible applicants can apply to receive up to three grant payments under the Algal Bloom Fisheries and Aquaculture Assistance Grant or the Algal Bloom Small Business Support Grant. Your business will need to demonstrate the eligibility criteria for three different three-month impact periods.

You will not be able to apply for the second or third grant payment until you have been approved for or received your initial grant payment.

If you have already received a grant payment, you will receive an email notifying you that you can apply for an additional payment when the additional form is available.

To apply, you will be prompted to log in to your SmartyGrants account. The additional form will also appear in your dashboard.

Yes, grant assessors may seek advice or information from PIRSA to confirm that your decline in business turnover is reasonably related to the Algal Bloom event (for example, licence type, species affected, or other industry factors).

You may be asked to provide additional or alternative evidence if required as part of the assessment process.

Yes, eligible applicants can apply to receive up to two grant payments under the Algal Bloom Fisheries and Aquaculture Assistance Grant or the Algal Bloom Small Business Support Grant. Your business will need to demonstrate the eligibility criteria for two different three-month impact periods.

You will not be able to apply for the second grant payment until you have been approved for or received your initial grant payment.

If you cannot yet demonstrate continued impact in accordance with the guidelines in a second or third impact period, you will not be eligible for the second or third payment. You can still apply to receive an initial payment if you have not applied yet.

You don’t need to do anything. Your application will continue to be assessed and if you later meet the eligibility for an initial payment, we’ll contact you by email to indicate whether you are eligible to apply for a second or third payment as well.

Yes, Employee Retention Payments are available only with the second and third grant payments. You can receive up to two ERP payments in total, each up to $25,000 (a maximum of $50,000 overall).

If you received an ERP with your second grant, you may receive one more with your third. If you didn’t receive one with your second grant, you can still access up to two ERP payments.

The Employee Retention Payment is only available for eligible licence holders in conjunction with a second or third General Assistance Payment.Up to $50,000 (GST exclusive) is available across two payments of up to $25,000 (GST inclusive).

The way the Employee Retention Payment is calculated depends on the level of impact your business has experienced during the Algal Bloom. If your business experienced at least a sixty per cent (60%) decline in both catch/harvest and business turnover for an impact period, you can receive a payment up to $25,000 (GST exclusive). This is calculated as follows:

• You can receive $10,000 (GST exclusive) for the first 1.0 FTE employed by you at the date of the application, and

• $4,000 (GST exclusive) for each additional FTE after that.

For all other eligible businesses, they can receive $4,000 (GST exclusive) per FTE and up to a maximum of $25,000 (GST exclusive).

For example, an eligible licence holder with 5.0 FTE may receive $25,000 (GST exclusive) if it has experienced a sixty percent decline in both catch/harvest and business turnover ($10,000 + $4,000 * 4 FTE = $26,000 capped at $25,000) or, if it hasn’t experienced that significant decline, it may receive $20,000 (GST exclusive) ($4,000 * 5 FTE = $20,000).

• In all cases, the maximum total across two Employee Retention Payments is $50,000 (GST exclusive)