Scientists: Jellyfish on the Increase in the Mediterranean
Overfishing in the oceans has lead to a surge in the jellyfish population such that “jelly blooms” (large swarms of jellyfish), which were rare a few years ago, are now a common sight. Scientists are now recoding and tracking jellyfish populations to better understand this phenomenon and its consequences.
In response to a growth in the jellyfish population worldwide, scientists have set up a database called Jellywatch to get the public to record sightings and run-ins with jellyfish. The increase in jellyfish was created largely by overfishing and is now having a variety of effects in terms of marine biodiversity as well as interfering with the tourism industry.
Highlights from the database include:
- “Last year [2009] more than 2,000 jellyfish sightings were recorded, this year’s records are already higher although this could be due to the success of the initiative in improving the efficiency of the citizen-based monitoring system.
- “Sightings of jellyfish species previous unknown to the Med — one was an Atlantic species which had entered from Gibraltar: Catostylus tagi”
- “A species normally found in the eastern basin of the Med had reached the west: Phyllorhiza punctata”
- “Species distributions differ — one species that had dominated the Ligurian Sea for two years hasn’t shown up this year while a species of box jellyfish species that is very abundant along the whole Adriatric coast is episodical elsewhere”