The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young says $14m in federal funding is “nowhere near what will be needed” to support South Australian communities dealing with the state’s algal bloom catastrophe.

The environment minister, Murray Watt, announced the federal assistance package on Monday while visiting South Australia to see the impacts of a toxic algal bloom that for months has caused mass deaths of marine life across the state’s beaches.

Watt said the bloom and its impacts were “incredibly disturbing”. But he stopped short of declaring the event a natural disaster, saying the catastrophe did not meet the relevant definitions under the federal natural disaster framework.

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Asked if the bloom and its impact should be declared a natural disaster, Watt said it was not possible under the existing definition despite calls from scientists, the Greens and SA’s Labor premier.