Increasingly, we humans are going to have to share our coasts with a new pest we have created.
Here’s a problem that will get worse in future centuries. The rise in jellyfish. Jellyfish populations are proliferating and evolving. They are moving to new regions. Scientists attribute the rise in jellyfish populations on our coasts to three factors: to the warmer seas of climate change, to increased salinity due to our increased reliance on desalination plants, and to our overfishing, which eliminates their natural predators.
So, while Japanese chefs are making the best of these increasing jellyfish invasions with a clever adaptation: jellyfish ice-cream, one Israeli company has invented a product that helps us adapt to this problem that will be worse in the future.
The product? Jellyfish repellent!
Increasingly, swimmers are going to have to share the sea with jellyfish. As humans attempt to co-evolve with jellyfish into the warmer climates of our future, with the saltier, emptier seas we are making, we will need protection from the results.
Nidaria – one of the more interesting water innovation start-ups incubated by Kinrot’s Aqua-Net – has produced a jellyfish repellent.
General Electric (GE) has recently signed an agreement with Kinrot to provide strategic assistance to Kinrot Ventures’ portfolio of water companies, including the screening of new technologies and offering technical and market assistance.
In a press release:
Assaf Barnea, CEO, Kinrot Ventures: “The agreement with GE is an important milestone that we have reached after three years of methodical and focused operations in the field of venture capital investments and the development of innovative water technologies. This model comprises another important step in the unique “eco-system” surrounding our activities at Kinrot and generates a unique added value for our portfolio companies.
“Our joint ventures with Israel’s national water company, Mekorot; the Milwaukee Water Council in Wisconsin; and now with GE, are creating a network of local and international connections that are so important for the development and initial installation of these new technologies and for contributing to the establishment of future water technologies for the local and global markets.”
Image: Garry Schlatter Vision and Imagination
::Nidaria
::Kinrot
More on jellyfish invasions:
Biodiversity Convention In Nagoya: Keeping The Jellyfish Out Of Our Sandwiches
Tips Against Jellyfish Invasion For Israel and Lebanon Coasts
New Jellyfish Species Tells a Tale of Global Warming
