From 30th May 30 to 3rd June, Barcelona hosts the V International Symposium on Jellyfish Blooms, the most important event about this topic, which is celebrated in Europe for the first time. The organizing committee is formed by scientists from the ICM –with Veronica Fuentes and Josep Maria Gili as main organizers–, the University of Alicante and the Natural Science Museum of Barcelona, with the support of the Barcelona Aquarium, which is the venue of the event.
From 30th May 30 to 3rd June, Barcelona hosts the V International Symposium on Jellyfish Blooms, the most important event about this topic, which is celebrated in Europe for the first time. The organizing committee is formed by scientists from the ICM –with Veronica Fuentes and Josep Maria Gili as main organizers–, the University of Alicante and the Natural Science Museum of Barcelona, with the support of the Barcelona Aquarium, which is the venue of the event.
About 250 researchers from 38 countries will attend this meeting, whose program includes 130 oral presentations and 100 posters. According to the organizers, so far this is the edition that brings together more assistance and number of submissions. The celebration of this symposium raised from both, social and scientific demands, to understand and find solutions to one of the most remarkable phenomena of recent decades in the oceans, the blooms of jellyfish and other gelatinous plankton organisms. Among the possible causes of these proliferations could be climate change, pollution, infrastructure construction, eutrophication of the oceans, and overfishing.
A growing problem
In recent years, we have detected an increase in the presence of jellyfish on coasts around the world. This increase has been found in the Mediterranean, and in seas and oceans from Asia and Australia, and entails several problems that have triggered the development of initiatives to solve them. The advance in knowledge and solutions of this phenomenon has been notorious, a fact that is also reflected in a significant increase of scientists interested in the topic and research projects at regional and global scales.
"We always want to know if there is a global increase of jellyfish around the world and if this is related to climate change" says Veronica Fuentes, from the ICM Department of Marine Biology and Oceanography. On this point, the researcher stresses that at the meeting, there will be scientists reporting increases due to global warming, but others who will show that there is still insufficient data to confirm this relationship. "However –says Fuentes–, we know that the problems related to jellyfish are increasing and the social interest has arisen from problems such as tourism, fisheries or aquaculture, is a rising phenomenon".
This fact is reflected in the history of jellyfish symposia: although in the first meetings the scientific presentations were dominant, in the last two editions, prevailed the topics of social and economic interest, reflecting the current state of the problem. "Maybe there is not enough scientific evidence to confirm some hypotheses yet, but common sense tells us that it is a growing problem and it surely has to do with the increased human use of the coast", argues the biologist.
Invasive species
Invasive jellyfish also have room in the meeting. One of the issues that have aroused greater alarm is the expansion of the Suez Canal, which may involve an increase in the entry of invasive species in the Mediterranean. In Eastern Mediterranean Sea, specifically in Turkey and Israel coasts, there have appeared extremely stinging species. The experts predict that sooner or later these species will reach Western Mediterranean Sea areas. In the latter region there have been detected more than ten invasive species, although not as stinging as in the East. In Asia, another example is a rise of Neopilema individuals, a giant jellyfish that causes many problems in fisheries.
At the symposium will also address other issues such as jellyfish fisheries, its new use in sectors such as cosmetics or animal and human consumption, and the impact of these animals in ecosystems and health, among others.
Over the past 15 years there have been four Symposia on jellyfish blooms in order to synthesize information, foster collaboration between scientists, and highlight management priorities. The previous editions were held in Gulf Shores (Alabama, USA), in 2000; Gold Coast (Queensland, Australia), in 2007; Mar del Plata (Argentina), in 2010; and Hiroshima (Japan), in 2013.
More information
Experts insist that it is not possible to know when a jellyfish bloom will happen because even when conditions are favorable, the models do not allow predictions beyond 24 or 48 hours.