BS: When jellyfish attack

Subject: BS: When jellyfish attack
From: Becca72
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 01:54 PM

From Reuters:

Millions of stinging baby jellyfish have been spotted off Scotland just days after another swarm wiped out Northern Ireland's only Salmon farm, the Marine Conservation Society said on Friday.

The organization, which said the abnormal swarms of baby mauve stinger and compass jellyfish were due to wind and tidal factors, urged fish farmers and the public to report any sightings to help monitor their progress.

"It is quite unusual for this number of juvenile jellyfish to be occurring in UK waters at this time of year," said Anne Saunders, MCS Scottish Projects Officer.

"But these blooms are phenomenal and consist of millions of individuals, being washed here by strong Atlantic currents."

Compass jellyfish are common in British waters during the summer, but mauve stingers are relatively uncommon.

In recent years the mauve stinger has bloomed in vast numbers in the Mediterranean, forming a major bathing hazard.

"Jellyfish swarms can impact on fish and shellfish farms, and while the conditions causing these current events remain unclear, such swarms may become more prevalent in Scottish waters as a result of climate change," Saunders said

Subject: RE: BS: When jellyfish attack
From: catspaw49
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 02:18 PM

In other words, you shouldn't go swimming in a kilt huh?

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: When jellyfish attack
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 02:25 PM

Ouch, Spaw!

I am curious. How did they manage to get into a salmon farm? Aren't those usually inland in a contained environment?

Subject: RE: BS: When jellyfish attack
From: Stu
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 02:27 PM

Not these salmon farms. Organically reared and in enclosures a mile or so off-shore, enjoying the rich waters of the Irish Sea. By all accounts some of the best farmed salmon in the world (not that I'd know - you can't get it in Tesco's).

I think the jellyfish are getting a bad press here though - it's not as if they're doing it on purpose.

Subject: RE: BS: When jellyfish attack
From: catspaw49
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 02:40 PM

Yeah.....Gotta' ask yourself what jellyfish in its right mind would want to be in Scotland? Ya' gotta' feel for them doncha'? Being in Scotland would suck.............

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: When jellyfish attack
From: katlaughing
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 02:52 PM

Thanks, stigweard. I didn't know they could be farmed that way.

Spaw, maybe they have a taste for a wee dram or two?:-)

True, too, it's not as if the jellyfish are being purposeful. Ya gotta wonder what has made them alter their routes.

Subject: RE: BS: When jellyfish attack
From: gnomad
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 02:54 PM

I did not know that jellyfish and salmon were incompatible, I wonder what the problem is? We get plenty of both in the bay here, though the salmon are wild rather than caged, and I haven't heard of any gang warfare breaking out. I'd better ask among the fishermen, it will doubtless give them a good laugh.

Subject: RE: BS: When jellyfish attack
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 02:57 PM

A report that I saw indicated that the farm hands attempted to get to the pens - about a mile off shore - but that "their three boats struggled for hours to push their way through the mass of jellyfish."

One wonders what they might have done if they'd arrived "in time." They'd need a lot of peanut butter to make sandwiches out of all the jelly in "a dense pack of about 10 square miles and 35 feet deep" as described by the report.

John

Subject: RE: BS: When jellyfish attack
From: Donuel
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 03:59 PM

It is said that global warming has caused a doubling of jellyish populations.

Subject: RE: BS: When jellyfish attack
From: Little Hawk
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 04:44 PM

Jellyfish are spineless. They can be put to flight by a single man wielding a ripe banana.

Subject: RE: BS: When jellyfish attack
From: GUEST,c.g.
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 04:51 PM

Salmon are migratory fish. Rearing them in cages, even if the cages are in the open sea, is bad for the fish and bad for the wild fish, which become diseased by contact with the crud dropping out of the cages and being concentrated in one area. In what sense this 'farming' can be described as 'organic' I don't know. I'm cheering on the jellyfish - may they wipe out all of these vile places.

Subject: RE: BS: When jellyfish attack
From: Bee
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 09:53 PM

Much as I enjoy cheap fresh salmon, I agree that farming offshore, which is done in Canada as well, has been a bad idea, no matter how commonsense it looked in the first place. Not just diseases, but also escaped farmed fish breeding with wild salmon has consequences.

I'm boggling at the visual of massed jellyfish actually slowing down boats. I try to like jellyfish, I really do, and they are quite pretty, as long as they're not closer than five metres. But I had this experience as a child, running on the shore. I was well onto a stretch of sand, every inch of it covered with transparent flat moon jellies, before I realised what I was running on. I just kept running, expecting to reach the end of them, but no such luck - they went on and on until I ran up into the rose bushes and brambles to get off them... the sensation is indescribable.

Subject: RE: BS: When jellyfish attack
From: bobad
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 10:01 PM

If you can't beat 'em - eat 'em, some recipes here.

Subject: RE: BS: When jellyfish attack
From: Bee
Date: 23 Nov 07 - 10:20 PM

Okay, Bobad, now I'm really curious about the flavour.

Subject: RE: BS: When jellyfish attack
From: open mike
Date: 24 Nov 07 - 03:20 PM

did the jellies sting the salmon?
here is some info on jelly fish
http://www.masla.com/jellyfish.html
i have seen by the wind sailors on a
beach in masses..
http://www.cornwallwildlifetrust.org.uk/nature/marine/velella.htm