extended run of jellies
Not sure to be honest (it's more a marine biology question - will ask around and see if we can find out some more info). Looking back at recent weather, and we've had a continuous supply of seasonal trades for the last few weeks - certainly nothing out of the ordinary compared to other years, but perhaps there are other factors elsewhere that are contributing to the local population explosion.
Thanks Ben/Don. Article mentioned warm water, with the water temps the way they have been maybe that is a contributing factor. I believe they have been prolific in n/nsw as well. Thanks for the research
Article indicates there's a lot of factors, not just warm water. One thing the article does state is that jelly's indicate water quality is fecked, so that's not good for both us and the remaining marine life.
lines wrote:Thanks Ben/Don. Article mentioned warm water, with the water temps the way they have been maybe that is a contributing factor. I believe they have been prolific in n/nsw as well. Thanks for the research
Yep heaps around Lennox, Ballina.
Was on the car ferry to moreton late last year, from the mouth of the bris river though the bay it was as through the barge had to carve it's way though one mass bloom of the blue blubbers.. was a weird and surreal spectacle..
The turn of the year on the NNSW was insane - almost impossible to duck under waves and not to dive into the blubbers.. bombing/pearling into them isn't exactly a great feeling either.. did plenty of that..!
For a few weeks in Jan, the lice were really biting around the goldy - a good made of mine I was surfing with got bitten on his balls.. not pleasant I know, some chap in the line up who overheard his complaints and my laughter suggested lice are jellyfish lava! Any thoughts?
Yeah, I was stung on Monday by a Portuguese man o' war in south east Tassie. There was a NE swell so I guess it swept all the jellies down from the mainland. Not much fun once the poison reached my Lymph nodes.
I read the book referred to in Donweather's link last year.
This one: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/S/bo15220175.html
It gives a bunch of compelling reasons why jellyfish have bloomed more severely and frequently over the last couple of decades around the world, and why we are likely to see jellyfish dominate our oceans over the next generation or two. The reasons for this include habitat destruction (including trawling, dredging etc.), overfishing, introduced species, warming, acidification, toxins, nutrient discharges from land, and the advantages all of these processes give jellyfish over everything else. Plus, it seems that once jellyfish take over, they are very hard to get rid of.
So, after the book gets my jellyfish paranoia up, we have the worst year I can remember for jellyfish on the NSW north coast. They seemed to be there every day for months this year. The blue blubbers were so thick one morning in mid January at my local I had to abort a session. Maybe the hot water plus port dredging in Queensland has been behind this year's blooms (my guesses only), but maybe this is going to become the new normal.
While the big, teethy fish are certainly more dramatic and fatal, the jellies could be the more likely threat to future sessions.
Can't believe the amount of jellies hanging around at certain places on the Gold Coast at the moment. Surfed here for nearly 30 years and I don't remember them being so thick for so long! Anyone ever recall them being this bad? Also, anyone got a reason/thoughts as to why they are this bad? Extremely annoying...