Large high-density jellyfish blooms are becoming
increasingly common in many marginal seas in the North Pacific and
in other regions of the world's oceans, and may be important regulators
of marine ecosystems. These blooms may have direct effects on fish
recruitment through predation on vulnerable early life stages of
marine fishes, or indirect effects competing for limited food resources
with exploited species. In addition, high concentrations of jellyfish
influence humans in other ways like economic losses in tourism through
beach closures, impeding commercial fishing through net clogging,
and loss of energy production through clogging of power plant intakes.
If jellyfish populations continue to increase in the coming decades,
their impacts on human populations are also likely to increase.
This session seeks to understand the causes of the proliferation
and expansion of these blooms in coastal waters and whether climatic
or anthropogenic changes have led to the recent blooms. In particular,
studies examining the impacts of these blooms on humans and the
economies that sustain them, and ways to predict their occurrence
and spread are encouraged. The convenors are planning a special
issue in a primary international journal (to be determined)
so contributors to this session should express their interest in
submitting a full manuscript during abstract submission.
Invited speakers: Jennifer Purcell (Western Washington
University, U.S.A.) and Shin-ichi Uye (Hiroshima University, Japan)