Jellyfish problems

HAY s and MURRAY A (2008) Jellyfish problems faced by the aquaculture industry . Fish Farmer, September/October, 40-41. 

Jellyfish present both opportunities and challenges for the aquaculture industry. They can produce economic gains or losses. In the first section, we review the fisheries and culture of jellyfish for human food, multi-miUion-dollar industries with markets currently centered in Asia. Interest in jellyfish has increased around the world in recent decades, both for public aquarium exhibition, where they offer economic and educational opportunities, and for scientific study, because the problems jellyfish cause have increased in coastal waters. Thus, in the second section, we present guidelines for culture conditions and tank construction for display or study of 27 jellyfish species. Although some jellyfish species benefit human health and economics, most are considered to be harmful, resulting in many millions of dollars in costs annually. Human problems with jellyfish include stinging and the costs associated with prevention, treatment, and loss of tourism. 

Because jellyfish have provided beautiful and popular aquarium exhibits, and because their populations and the problems they cause for humans appear to be increasing around the world, interest in rearing and exhibiting jellyfish is likely to increase. 

Fig.13.5 Examples of harmful jellyfish species that have caused gill problems and/ or mortalities in marine-farmed sahnon. (a) A bloom of Aurelia aurita (and a single Chrysaora hysoscella in the centre) on an Atlantic sahnon in Ireland, (b) Pelagia noctiluca taken from the snrface waters during the 2007 bloom in Northern Ireland, (c) a single polyp head of the biofouhng hydroid species, Ectopleura larynx, found on aquacnlture nets in Ireland, (d) Muggiaea atlantica and (e) Solmaris corona, (c-e) only a few mm in length (a) and (c-e) photos courtesy of Emily Baxter (b) photo...

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