Empowering Stakeholders to Manage Stinging Jellyfish: A Perspective

ABSTRACT

A global challenge is dealing with the risk of envenomation by the stinging jellyfish. Those who are affected include: the people stung, tourist providers; diving and adventure operations, beach and park authorities, life guards, commercial marine operators as well as local and centralized government; we focus on tourism. There is a diversity of jellyfish that pose a risk and they vary greatly in their ecology. Here, we propose five eco-groups of jellyfish to assist in prioritizing estimates of the risks to a broad clientele. Eco-groups are: (1) “Pulse species” that impact on beaches for short well-defined periods; (2) “Shelf-wide species;” (3) “Nearshore species;” (4) “Drifter species” and (5) “Deep sea species.” Great spatial variation and strong seasonality in the occurrence and abundance of jellyfish is the rule, rather than the exception, and this indicates that local knowledge and preventative action is the key to reducing the risk of envenomation. Managers can take control by getting involved in: predicting risk, detecting the presence of jellyfish and advising on/or providing barriers and protection, first responses and treatment of sting victims. Good communication and record keeping is critical within the stakeholder chain.

KEYWORDS:

• determining risk
• eco-groups
• jellyfish
• managers
• stakeholder-chain
• stings

Acknowledgments

We thank those who participated in the National Environmental Science Programme funded workshop to establish a framework for future investment into better understanding the presence of box jellyfish and risks in the Great Barrier Reef (Project 3.6). We also thank Jamie Seymour, Eduardo Obis and Belinda Curley for kindly providing photographs for the article.

Additional information

Funding

Part of this research was carried out under contract LIFE 08 NAT ES 0064 (to CB and VF) co-financed by the European Commission and Spanish Government.