Invasion of the jellyfish

This could be the year of the jellyfish. Mauve stinger, a species that has wreaked havoc at resorts in the past, is massing again off the Balearics and in the Mediterranean. Beaches are being closed, and swimmers from Spain to Bulgaria have been stung. Last week, 62 bathers were stung at a Costa Blanca beach in one day alone. Tourist areas are deploying a range of deterrents. At Cannes, a barrier has been placed behind which people can swim, while Spain has organised a network of spotter planes, plus a volunteer fleet of boat owners to scoop up inshore jellyfish and take them out to sea. The jellyfish are thriving because of warming oceans and over-fishing, which is eliminating their predators and competitors. In the Black Sea, now thought to have passed an ecological tipping point, one sample found that 90 per cent of the biomass was jellyfish. There are fears that over-fishing could, in time, do the same in the North Sea, where jellyfish have steadily increased. Elsewhere in British waters, there is no cause for alarm. But lion's mane, which has a strong sting, has been seen off Wales; and the compass jellyfish, with a milder sting, has swarmed in the South-west weeks earlier than usual.

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