Jellyfish warning for beach-goers in UK

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water at UK beaches, scientists have warned that coastal seas could be turned into a “jellyfish soup” this summer.

The number of jellyfish inhabiting waters is on the rise according to the Marine Conservation Society, with pollution, over-fishing and climate change among the theories being used to explain the increase.

After events such as the temporary closure of the Torness nuclear power station in Scotland at the end of June due to swarms of moon jellyfish blocking its water intake cooling systems, the MCS is asking beach-goers to take part in its crowd-sourced survey of jellyfish numbers in the seas to learn more about them.

“There is strong evidence that jellyfish numbers are increasing around the world, including UK seas, and these increases have been linked to factors such as pollution, over-fishing and possibly climate change,” said MCS biodiversity programme manager Peter Richardson.

“We should consider jellyfish populations as important indicators of the state of our seas, and the MCS jellyfish survey helps provide some of the information we need to understand more about them.”

Species usually seen in British waters are the barrel, moon, compass, blue and lion’s mane jellyfish. Those brave enough to get close to the jellyfish are being urged to “look but not touch”, as although most of the species have only a mild sting, some, like the lion’s mane, which usually goes as far south as the Irish Sea and Norfolk, have a strong – but none-fatal – sting.

Torness, near Dunbar in Lothian, was shut down for two days after jellyfish inundated the seas near the site.