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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/07/weatherwatch-climate-change-and-overfishing-bring-explosion-of-jellyfish
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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Weatherwatch: climate change and overfishing bring explosion of jellyfish | Weatherwatch: climate change and overfishing bring explosion of jellyfish |
| (2 months later) | |
| Warmer and more acid seas cause huge blooms of jellyfish, but scientists are working on ways to convert them into something useful | |
| Paul Brown | |
| Tue 7 Nov 2017 21.30 GMT | |
| Last modified on Mon 27 Nov 2017 14.10 GMT | |
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| The combination of climate change and overfishing is causing a population explosion in jellyfish. Since there are fewer fish to eat them, they appear off the British coast in vast swarms. This is a threat to nuclear power stations – because they can block the intake of cooling water – and to fish farms, where thousands get caught in the netting, sometimes killing hundreds of salmon by depriving them of oxygen. | The combination of climate change and overfishing is causing a population explosion in jellyfish. Since there are fewer fish to eat them, they appear off the British coast in vast swarms. This is a threat to nuclear power stations – because they can block the intake of cooling water – and to fish farms, where thousands get caught in the netting, sometimes killing hundreds of salmon by depriving them of oxygen. |
| Some species are poisonous, and so caution is required when jellyfish float next to you in the sea or are stranded on beaches. Their sting can be powerful. | Some species are poisonous, and so caution is required when jellyfish float next to you in the sea or are stranded on beaches. Their sting can be powerful. |
| With the problem worsening as the seas get both more acid and warmer, the European Union has decided it needs to better understand how these blooms occur and think of a way of stopping them before they reach our coastal waters. | With the problem worsening as the seas get both more acid and warmer, the European Union has decided it needs to better understand how these blooms occur and think of a way of stopping them before they reach our coastal waters. |
| Since the potential mass of these blooms in Europe is enormous – already 1bn tons for one imported species, the American comb jelly (Mnemiopsis leidyi) – the EU also wants to find a way of utilising this potential resource. | Since the potential mass of these blooms in Europe is enormous – already 1bn tons for one imported species, the American comb jelly (Mnemiopsis leidyi) – the EU also wants to find a way of utilising this potential resource. |
| Scientists from 15 institutions have been allocated €6m (£5.3m) over four years to try and find a way of converting them into something useful. One idea is processing them into food for fish farms, or better still, thinking of a way to make them less slimy and presenting them as a human food. | Scientists from 15 institutions have been allocated €6m (£5.3m) over four years to try and find a way of converting them into something useful. One idea is processing them into food for fish farms, or better still, thinking of a way to make them less slimy and presenting them as a human food. |
| Other suggestions include converting them into cosmetics, since they contain collagen, much used in skin creams, or using their sticky mucus to tackle another environmental problem – microplastic. Jellyfish biofilters fixed to sewage outfalls could capture the plastic before it reached the sea. | Other suggestions include converting them into cosmetics, since they contain collagen, much used in skin creams, or using their sticky mucus to tackle another environmental problem – microplastic. Jellyfish biofilters fixed to sewage outfalls could capture the plastic before it reached the sea. |
| Marine life | |
| Weatherwatch | |
| Wildlife | |
| Weather | |
| Meteorology | |
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