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 further grant payment subject to meeting 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.

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.

You will need to provide evidence of continued impact over a different or subsequent three-month period – for example, this might be another notification from PIRSA that your licence fee has been waived in a different or subsequent 3 month period or a closure of your harvest, or your BAS statements if you are demonstrating another reduction in business turnover. The application form will provide you with prompts on what evidence is required.

You will not need to submit proof of identity documents or bank statements unless something has changed – only updated evidence of impact such as BAS statements or notifications.

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 impact period, you will not be eligible for the second payment. You can still apply to receive an initial payment if you have not applied yet.

The program close dates have also been extended to 31 July 2026 (as of 15 October 2025), meaning that you may become eligible in a later impact period.

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 payment as well.

The Employee Retention Payment is only available for eligible licence holders in conjunction with any second General Assistance Payment.

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 payment is $25,000 (GST exclusive).