Japan grapples with invasion of giant jellyfish

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By Isabel Reynolds Thu Jan 19, 2:24 AM ET

TOKYO (Reuters) - A slimy jellyfish weighing as much as a sumo wrestler has Japan's fishing industry in the grip of its poisonous tentacles.

Vast numbers of Echizen kurage, or Nomura's jellyfish, have appeared around Japan's coast since July, clogging and ripping fishing nets and forcing fishermen to spend hours hacking them apart before bringing home their reduced catches.

Representatives of fishing communities around the country gathered in Tokyo on Thursday, hoping to thrash out solutions to a pest that has spread from the Japan Sea to the Pacific coast.

"It's a terrible problem. They're like aliens," Noriyuki Kani of the fisheries federation in Toyama, northwest of Tokyo, told Reuters ahead of the conference.

There are no official figures on the size of the problem, but Kani says the financial losses are obvious.

"If your nets are full of jellyfish, of course there is no space for fish," he said.

Cutting up and disposing of the giants can turn a three-hour fishing trip into a 10-hour marathon, while valuable fish are poisoned or crushed under the weight of the unwanted catch.

And what a catch. One Echizen kurage can be up to 2 meters (6 ft 7 in) in diameter and weigh up to 200 kg (440 lb).

Despite their size, the invertebrates aren't toxic enough to cause serious harm to humans, but fishermen often wear goggles and protective clothing to avoid stings when dealing with them.

Much about the jellyfish, the largest variety found in the Sea of Japan, remains a mystery, according to Hitoshi Iizumi of the Seikai National Fisheries Research Institute in Niigata.

Researchers have suggested they drift to Japan on currents after reproducing in South Korean or Chinese waters, a theory that Japan wants to investigate with the other two nations.

But with relations between Japan and its nearest neighbors at a low ebb, Tokyo is anxious to avoid apportioning blame.

"We have a neutral stance," said Yukihiko Sakamoto of the National Fisheries Agency, which organized Thursday's conference.

CULINARY SOLUTION?

"It doesn't matter whether the jellyfish come from South Korean waters or Japanese waters. We just want to do something to minimize the damage to the fishing industry," he said.

One-off spikes in population have occurred in the past, notably in 1958, but consecutive outbreaks in 2002 and 2003 prompted the government to seek reasons and solutions.

Scientists have suggested global warming might be a factor.

Some fishermen have had some success in combating the intruders by introducing guide nets with larger than usual holes.

Jellyfish are simply swept through the holes by water currents, while other fish tend to notice the nets and swim alongside them, eventually being trapped in the fishing nets.

"By altering the way we fish, we have probably secured 80 to 90 percent of our normal catch," said fisherman Masatoshi Kuruma, who said he has in the past found up to two or three thousand jellyfish in his nets off Nyuzenmachi in Toyama prefecture.

Officials at Thursday's conference are also set to propose a forecasting system that would allow fishermen to prepare for the next onslaught of the jumbo jellyfish.

South Korean fishermen have been suffering similar woes but China, where giant jellyfish are a delicacy often served dried and dressed with sesame oil, does not seem to have registered the outbreak as a major problem, Japanese officials said.

Seaside communities in Japan have tried to capitalize on the menace by developing novel jellyfish dishes from tofu to icecream, but for some reason the recipes have failed to take off.

Participants at Thursday's conference said they had experimented with feeding the jellyfish to farmed crabs and using them as fertilizer.

Turtle Hospital

welcome to the turtle hospital here in sunny Juno Beach Florida! Before we begin all photos are property of the blogger - Amber - all additional info about the hospital can be found here.

The next 4 pictures are of a healty turtle taken from the beach at birth (its not a kemp's riddly i want to say....Loggerhead?) his shell has to get a little bit bigger before hes released - but for now hes with us for educational purposes. He has a nurse shark friend along with a red and black grouper of which are not pictured.




The 2 pictures below are of a young Kemp's Riddley sea turtle swimming about in the sun - he appears to be healthy with no signs of any apparant illnesses - he must be here for educational purposes. He may be anemic but i highly doubt it

A young loggerhead (?)- again no apparent sign of current illnesses


The turtle below was slashed in the face and head with a boat prop. Hes not only completely blind but hes having issues sinking to the bottom due to excess gases inside intestines. He is also anemic. They are treating him with a high mineral diet. The best way to clear a bouyancy issue is to pass it through the body with the help of other foods. If a turtle cannot sink it cannot feed.

another baby - so cute

this turtle is anemic - the other illnesses are unknown

this turtle's name is joy and has been in the hospital for longer than expected - suffers from excess gas, anemia and mineral problems.

please adopt a turtle here at the hospital and fund their recovery!

Some Pictures

Juno Peir 530PM Florida

World's Largest Aquarium opens today - WHALE SHARKS!

(the picture of the actual tank is actually from an aquarium in Japan. It has a whale shark on film so im putting that there. The Japanese aquarium is filled with stingrays and i mean FILLED - cownose-spotted- MANTAS - im so excited IM CALLING A ROAD TRIP! WHO'S WITH ME?! The georgia aquarium is rumored to be the largest in the world which blows my mind because its hard for me to think any bigger after i visited this link: JAPANESE AQUARIUM )


By DOUG GROSS, Associated Press Writer Mon Nov 14, 7:51 PM ET

ATLANTA - The whale sharks are kings of the 6-million-gallon tank, their presence palpable even before they emerge from the murky darkness like massive star cruisers in a science fiction film.
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But once visitors to the new Georgia Aquarium have seen Ralph and Norton — the only whale sharks on display outside of Asia — they will still have at least 99,998 more fish to go.

When the aquarium opens Nov. 23, it will become the world's largest by virtually all major standards of the industry. It was bankrolled almost exclusively by a $200 million gift from Home Depot Inc. co-founder Bernie Marcus.

"It's going to be the most unique aquarium in the world," said Marcus, 76. "I don't want to say the best. (Status as) the best will come after people view it and decide."

The aquarium will also be the centerpiece of a downtown Atlanta revival aimed at drawing millions more visitors to the Southern city each year.

The aquarium neighbors Centennial Olympic Park and lies across the street from the CNN Center and the Georgia Dome. In 2007, a new World of Coca-Cola museum is expected to open next door. The city also is a finalist for
NASCAR's hall of fame, which would be located in what is now a parking lot near the other attractions.

Shaped like an abstract cruise ship looming over downtown Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park, the aquarium is expected to attract as many as 2 million visitors in its first year.

The aquarium was designed to hold 8 million gallons of water and be home to more than 100,000 fish. By comparison, Shedd Aquarium in Chicago — the nation's largest indoor aquarium for decades — has 5 million gallons and about 20,000 fish.

The Atlanta aquarium's pair of juvenile whale sharks — characterized by their streamlined bodies and depressed, broad and flattened heads — could grow to more than 40 feet long, giving visitors a rare glimpse at the world's largest fish. At the time they arrived at the aquarium in June from Taiwan, one was measured at 15 1/2 feet and the other at 13 feet.

Also featured will be five beluga whales, two of them rescued from an amusement park in Mexico, in an 800,000-gallon tank.

The unusual fish on display, presentations that will include computer-generated images, spotlights and music and the sheer size of the project have aquarium officials around the world buzzing — and even jealous, said Kristin Vehrs, interim executive director of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association.

"We know they are going to be doing state-of-the-art things at that aquarium," she said.

And it will be more than just a huge aquarium.

There's a "4-D" movie theater, which shows movies with 3-D animation and other special effects, and a banquet hall that can serve a sit-down dinner for up to 1,100 people catered by a company owned by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck.

Marcus, who became a billionaire after co-founding Home Depot in 1979 with current Atlanta Falcons football franchise owner Arthur Blank Jr., the aquarium is a $200 million "thank you" note to the city of Atlanta and state of Georgia.

"I have what I have today because of the people in this state," he said.

But not everyone is happy.

A handful of animal rights groups protested the plan to display whale sharks, saying the giant animals are more likely to die young in captivity. Aquarium officials and some independent biologists say those fears are based on old statistics and say the aquarium's whale sharks were destined to become seafood when they were acquired.

Some Atlanta-area residents are complaining about the ticket prices and lack of a family pass. For a family of five, the cost of individual annual passes will be nearly $250, while one-day general admission would run $96.50. For a single adult, a one-day pass is $22.75. For children, a one-day ticket is $17.

Planners say visitors will consider the price a bargain when they see what's in store. More than 40,000 annual passes have been sold, including 8,000 on the first day they were available.

Marcus said he knew Home Depot would take off when he learned customers were driving nearly two hours, from Athens, Ga., to his first store in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta. He said he will use a similar standard to determine whether his aquarium is a success.

"I'll know it's successful when we find out people are coming from all over the United States and groups are coming from other countries," he said. "When we see them coming here, then we'll know we were right."

Solo Adventures

So I went to the beach with my boyfriend around 7 or 8 pm and stayed until 9 or 10. Ive seen things now! Well, it was fun and quite interesting - first off all the beach we went to was Surfside beach (in between the surfside pier and garden city pier). Once on the middle beach i noticed crazy amounts of movement; I had found the ghost crabs. All sorts of sizes - from the teenie weenie to the exceedingly large - they were scurrying about in all different directions. Ben decided to catch a few of them (big and small) so I could look at them up close. It seems the smaller crabs will still attempt to scurry off where the larger ones will literally play dead until they feel sand again. They were amazing to watch especially when digging their little homes out. Moving past the Surfside Pier we came across a small tide pool created by the lake-water spillway. (AKA: ghetto storm drains that lead straight into the ocean - im not a big fan of them eww dirty) that expanded for a considerable distance making it almost impossible to tell where the tidepool ended and the shoreline began. To make things more intersting there were fish fighting the drainoff's current - literally jumping out of the water like salmon running up stream. Ben tried to catch one but they were just too smart - darn! I was interested to see what type of fish this was. Moving back I saw a shadow in the tide pool shifting about - it was a heron snapping up the jumping fish. This beach adventure was extremely exciting - very active!

Beachin It, Midnight Style

Well I'm pleased to report that my first night 'Beachin It, Midnight Style' (BIMS) was a relaxing yet quite uneventful endeavor. Save for new friends and a few interesting shells I did not see any ghost crabs like I had hope to see although I did see some promising little holes. We had gone to the beach on 32nd up by the Pavilion. What amazed me was the endless stretch of beach. I had grown acustomed to the beaches in florida which were barely a strip of sand and here it was almost a mile to the water - very fine, soft sand. We stayed until 2 am around; got chased out by the rain from a incomming storm. Hopefully the next trip will be more eventful creature wise.

Beachin It Midnight Style

Tonight im heading out with a friend named Will for a midnight stroll across the beach therefore this is the periodic 'Beachin It, Midnight Style' entry. Here i will post my findings (last time it was 2 mermaids purses one hatched one not, pieces of sand dollar, and a piece of sponge - good finds) and observations...no camera this time kids you'll have to make due with google images - no film roll O_<
we should see ghost crabs <3> making a mad dash towards the ocean. Run Babies Run!

this is actually a malaysia ghost crab - they're colorful little buggers. the ones by us are almost invisible and very tiny











to my facebook group - if you want to post pictures email me with the pictures atached with captions for each and a little blurb from you - full credit given as always!







<-- is it safe yet? O-O