New Mediterranean jellyfish invasions are causing big problems for coastal power plants
Ever since new species of jellyfish, such as one known as Marvigaria Stellata began to appear in the Mediterranean, numerous warnings have been issued by media sides concerning this “plague” that is getting worse. Some say this partially being attributed to global warming. Jellyfish have been residents of the Mediterranean for years – and many entered the invasive mode after the Suez Canal was open, allowing them to seep in from the Red Sea. Every year, great numbers of them wash up on various beaches in both Israel and Lebanon, and previous Green Prophet articles have even offered tips on how to deal with the gelatinous blobs that to some people are very painful if stung by them.
Cleaning up the mess, a 27/7 ongoing operation
One species in particular, a relatively new one to the “Med” is causing a lot of headaches to employees of Israel’s Hadera Electric Power Plant, according to an article published 
a few days ago in the Jerusalem Post.
The article, entitled Photo Gallery: Attack of the Jellyfish
reports that the new species is one of four alien jellyfish species said to have come into the Mediterranean from the Suez Canal. Although not a threat to humans, the jellyfish are being sucked into the filters for the plant’s sea water intakes. They clog up the mesh filters and have to be cleaned from them constantly, according to plant spokesmen.
The invasion of the jellyfish is just one on a number of ecological problems plaguing the Mediterranean, some of which include large amounts of plastic material and other debris, some which also clogs up the plants water intake filters.
According to marine biologists, two of the main reasons for such a large number of jellyfish are global warming causing sea temperatures to rise and resulting in a reduction of some fish species; and over-fishing which eliminates many of the jellyfish’s natural predators.
Recent jellyfish attacks to the power plant mesh filters has been so bad that according to Dr. Anat Glazer, the Israel Electric Corporation’s marine ecologist, the mechanical rakes used to clean the filters “have to be in operation 24 hours a day”.
Results of one day’s jellyfish ‘raking’
The outlook is not very optimistic, due mainly to the previously mentioned reasons. The jellyfish lay “thousands of eggs” and when mature, the jellyfish simply float on the currents and wind up virtually everywhere, including beaches and of course the power plants.
Dr. Bella Gallil, a senior researcher for the Institute of Oceanography, says that:
“Once jellyfish become dominant in a region, annual cycles of strong jellyfish production may inhibit the revival of some depleted fish stocks since they routinely compete for plankton prey with juvenile, and many adult, pelagic fish.”
More articles on jellyfish and other Mediterranean pollution issues:
New Jellyfish Species Tells a Tale of Global Warming
Tips Against Jellyfish Invasion for Israeli and Lebanese Coasts
Is the Mediterranean Harboring a Large Plastic Garbage Patch?
Author: Maurice Picow
Maurice Picow grew up in Oklahoma City, U.S.A., where he received a B.S. Degree in Business Administration. Following graduation, Maurice embarked on a career as a real estate broker before making the decision to move to Israel. After arriving in Israel, he came involved in the insurance agency business and later in the moving and international relocation fields. Maurice became interested in writing news and commentary articles in the late 1990’s, and now writes feature articles for the The Jerusalem Post as well as being a regular contributor to Green Prophet. He has also written a non-fiction study on Islam, a two volume adventure novel, and is completing a romance novel about a forbidden love affair. Writing topics of particular interest for Green Prophet are those dealing with global warming and climate change, as well as clean technology - particularly electric cars.
Jelly fish are on the rise due to over fishing. We are over fishing because there are too many people on the planet.
The planet’s temperature has not risen since the so called “scientists” told us it would continue to rise until we all fried. And, just on a personal note, I looked for a paper on birch tree growth to date a local nature reserve, and somehow half the papers I came across were being funded by this global warming scam.
OK, perhaps the real problem is that important ecological research and monitoring needs to be properly funded, but draining the economy of billions of pounds and pouring it into the rich pockets of speculators and developers to go and dig up peat moors and forests to put in bird mincers.
Sorry, the only “jelly” around is those people who still believe this global warming nonsense. 1C rise can be justified by real science, the rest is just fertile imagination by people whose jobs relies on scarring the pants off the rest of us to get funding.
I guess not many people care about a bunch of stupid jellyfish, do they?