Jellyfish Continue to Damage Ecosystems
It's been 18 months since the National Science Foundation submitted an online report about the damage to the ecosystem by jellyfish in USA and around the rest of the world. It said that stinging jellyfish and similar animals have been affecting tourist destinations and fisheries which are getting jammed by the presence of these deadly creatures. It is believed that these swarms are created by overfishing, climate change, pollution and structures like gas and oil rigs.
These swarms of jellyfish have damaged fish farms, seabed mining operations, large ships, desalination plants, and fisheries. They have also clogged intake pipes, thereby disabling nuclear power plants. The jellyfish swarms are so dense in the Gulf of Mexico that it seems there are more jellyfish than there is water. A hundred jellyfish are said to occupy one cubic meter of water.
Monty Graham of Alabama's Dauphin Island Sea Lab on a barrier island in the Gulf of Mexico said, "I'm often asked whether a single, overarching condition is triggering jellyfish swarms in diverse locations." Graham said the abnormally large, dense or frequent jellyfish swarms are "a symptom of an ecosystem that has been tipped off balance by environmental stresses."
Graham explained, "The exact nature of such balance-tipping environmental stresses may vary from place to place and usually involve unique interactions with local ecology. But such stresses are often caused by people."
William Hamner of the University of California at Los Angeles said in the report: "There is clear, clean evidence that certain types of human-caused environmental stresses are triggering jellyfish swarms in some locations."
These stresses are said to include the introduction of jellyfish species, by ships, into non-native habitats; increases in water temperatures resulting in the acceleration of the growth and reproduction of many jellyfish species; and the formation of ultra-polluted areas, known as Dead Zones, where jellyfish do not have to face many predators and competitors.
The report also said that at least 150 million people around the world are exposed to jellyfish stings every year. 500,000 people are stung by jellyfish every year in the U.S. waters from Hawaii to the Chesapeake Bay. At least another 200,000 people are stung by jellyfish every year in Florida, and 10,000 more are stung in Australia by the deadly Portuguese man-of-war jellyfish, according to the report.
The figures have obviously increased since this report was submitted. And more and more people are cautioned to watch out for jellyfish when out at sea.
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2008/2008-12-16-01.html
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