Giant jellyfish flip Japanese ship
Image by unforth via Flickr
Earlier this year, significant numbers of the massive Nemopilema nomurai, or Japanese giant jellyfish, infested Japanese off-shore waters. Despite their size, they pose no real direct threat to humans, and instead plague commercial fishermen when they foul nets.
That net problem played out in sea-monster fashion in the past few days when the excessive weight of a giant jellyfish-laden trawl net dragged a Japanese fishing boat and its crew into the ocean, according to the Telegraph on-line:
The trawler, the Diasan Shinsho-maru, capsized off Chiba as its three-man crew was trying to haul in a net containing dozens of huge Nomura’s jellyfish. . .The crew of the fishing boat was thrown into the sea when the vessel capsized, but the three men were rescued by another trawler, according to the Mainichi newspaper. The local Coast Guard office reported that the weather was clear and the sea was calm at the time of the accident.
Sounds like the rescue was easy enough, but somebody is probably going to have to write off the trawler.
No one is exactly sure why so many giant jellyfish have shown up this year, as they have done several times in the past four years. Various theories abound: Changes in sea temperatures between China and Japan. Reductions in the number of jellyfish predators due to over-fishing. Excessive amounts of nutrients in the water from chemicals used in agriculture. Interestingly, these theories often finger China as some sort of culprit in the matter, placing the origin of the jellyfish in the Yellow Sea, and the Japanese as the beleaguered and injured party.
No matter: the Japanese attempt to turn the giant jellyfish into something edible continues apace.
via Japanese fishing trawler sunk by giant jellyfish – Telegraph.
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Is that an original movie for the Syfy channel I hear calling?
Michael — I think you’re right. It’s just too good a set-up to leave alone. But there needs to be an extra-terrestrial angle.
In response to another comment. See in context »I think one of these stung me off the coast of Shikoku.
Lisa — Do they sting? I assume they do. But I can’t recall reading about anyone who has been stung to any degree.
In response to another comment. See in context »Scary. I’ve ate jellyfish once; that’s enough for me. Shame these bastards are overpowering the fisheries.
Neal — The Obama (Japan) Fisheries High School plan to try to turn giant jellyfish flesh into a caramelized treat is the best culinary response to this inundation I’ve heard, so far, although I don’t think I’d try it. How does jellyfish taste? Where did you have it and how was it prepared?
In response to another comment. See in context »Godzilla 2012 He’s Back
the attack on the fisheries by the Japanese factory boats may well be coming back to haunt them in the coming years