Spain Will Cull Jellyfish

The Spanish environment ministry has revealed plans for a pre-emptive strike against plagues of poisonous jellyfish that are expected to blight the coast this summer according to the Times Online. Thousands of holidaymakers were stung last year as the translucent pests washed ashore from Cadiz to the Costa Brava.

“From an environmental point of view, leaving them in the water isn’t a bad solution, because they would be food for other animals, but for the population in general, and bathers in particular, they pose a health problem,” said marine biologist Josep-Maria Gili.

Like other Mediterranean countries, Spain is expecting an onslaught of jellyfish partly because of the decline in natural predators, such as red tuna and turtles. Also, scarce rainfall has meant less cool river water flowing into the sea and, as a consequence, the temperature of the sea around the Spanish costas has risen, which makes it easier for jellyfish to reproduce. The cool fresh water traditionally kept the jellyfish about 20 miles from shore, ecologists say. Last summer 400 bathers were treated in one single day in August for stings at a beach in Benalmadena, Malaga.

Authorities in Murcia have proposed erecting a 21-mile net to protect beaches; other municipalities say they’ll scoop the jellyfish from the sea and dump them in landfill sites.