Jellyfish net at St Julians

A 40-metre jellyfish net has been installed temporarily around the St Julians waterpolo pitch to protect players and club members from the annual invasion.

Club president Brian Schembri said the jellyfish were causing a number of problems for the club and the St Julians community in general.

"Some waterpolo players, especially the younger boys, were quitting and going to other clubs that have pools. We even had to cancel some matches," he said.

The net was installed on June 13, in collaboration with the St Julians local council.

"We have been planning this for a while because of the problems we've had in previous years. It seems to be getting worse every year. This year the jellyfish arrived as early as May," he said.

So far, the nets have been successful. But University biology professor Patrick Schembri warned that while nets could be effective in calm waters in rough weather the problem could get worse.

"If the waves are strong enough you can end up with a jellyfish soup with pieces of pureed jellyfish all over the place. They're very fragile creatures and if they're forced into the meshes they will break apart and the problem will be exacerbated," Prof. Schembri said.

He explained that if the mesh was very fine this would be less likely to happen but that would cause other problems of water circulation.

"Unfortunately, there is no real solution. The best thing would be to go and gently pick up each one with a net," he said.

The St Julians waterpolo club is planning to leave the net in the water until September, before the annual storms and rough weather begin.

Prof. Schembri said Malta had seen more regular jellyfish blooms over the last years due to a number of complex factors including warmer temperatures, overfishing and pollution. Predicting the presence of jellyfish was very difficult because it all depended on water currents.

Once an area was infested, the jellyfish could either stay for a long time or disappear overnight. "They are passive, so they just drift to where the water takes them. I've seen places infested one day and empty the next," he said.

cperegin@timesofmalta.com