Turning To Jelly

Someone mailed me and asked about a potential jellyfish invasion, and she and her family are due to come in May. Jellyfish are a problem for the summer not the spring. But I asked about her source, and she duly sent it to me. Apparently there have been some jellyfish washed up on a beach on the island, and "experts" (whoever they might be) are saying that there will be an invasion.

The reason, such as it is, is the warm winter weather, say these non-attributed experts. Fine. But last winter was also warm. The last two summers there have meant to have been "plagues" of jellyfish and they have not materialised. Yes, there have been jellyfish and in places, at times, they have been numerous, but this is not uncommon.

It is in fact a number of years since there was a true "plague", but each year some scare-mongering goes up, and that's just it - it is scare-mongering. Let's not deny the fact that the jellyfish problem has generally become worse, and this is because of warmer waters and over fishing of predators, but speculative pronouncements by "experts" help no one.

The Majorcan authorities are not blind to the issue, and so measures are being used, such as scooping up schools of fish. Additionally, lifeguards and the civil protection personnel can advise as to the presence or not of jellyfish. Occasionally, there is nothing to be done other than let nature rule, and then the seas do have to be cleared, but this is not common, and there is no reason to suspect that this summer will be any worse than the last two, despite what these experts may say. The predictions are no more sound than any that state that the summer will be exceptionally hot.

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