'Year of the jelly' invasion hits south west beach resorts

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'Year of the jelly' invasion hits south west beach resorts

Britain's most popular and famous beaches could be closed this summer because of an invasion of jellyfish

Millions of jellyfish descending upon the south-west coast will cause beach closures if numbers continue to rise, experts have warned.

Swarms of large, barrel jellyfish have been spotted along the shoreline in recent weeks after experts warned thousands more may well be on the way.

And according to local marine conservation scientist, Dr Keith Hiscock, beaches will be forced to close across the south west if the jellyfish continue to multiply.

"It's the year of the jelly," he said.

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"And the reason I say that is because of the unusually high number of barrel jellyfish we have in the water along our coastline.

"Beaches in Portugal have in fact been closed due to the sheer number of jellyfish in the water and that's quite possible here.

"I don't know what sort of authority the lifeguards have, but they would need to close the beaches across the whole region to all swimmers if any of the nasty ones came along.

"Barrel jellyfish are not the type people need to worry about. Some can grow up to four feet wide, but most only reach two or three and only a few people actually react to their sting.

"It's the blue jellyfish and the compass jellyfish that have stings.

"They're the ones people ought to look out for and be aware that they can sting.

"It's best for swimmers and beach-goers to avoid any contact with them."

The marine wildlife expert, who is an associate fellow at the Marine Biological Association of the UK, also warned that numbers of basking sharks in Plymouth Sound, Devon are dwindling and suggested the unusually high concentration of jellyfish - including the Portuguese man o' war - may well be responsible.

Source: Telegraph

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