The Other Population Explosion

Mankind isn’t the only animal that’s going forth and multiplying and smothering the planet. The oceans are being strangled by jillions and gazillions of jellyfish — sort of the Homo sapiens of the marine world.

This is being caused partially by over-fishing, which is removing their predators and competitors. Another factor is the warming of the oceans. In other words — sorry, rightwads — global warming. Climate change.

Pollution is another culprit. Jellyfish thrive in the kind of pollution that kills almost everything else. Maybe someday the oceans will be like those clogged sick polluted rivers that have nothing but carp.

One of the worst examples is the Black Sea. According to a recent sampling, ninety percent of its biomass was jellyfish. [shudder] Aah, come on in, the water’s nice.

The Sea of Japan has also been swamped with hordes of jellyfish. If this article is correct, 300 million to 500 million jellyfish were flowing into the Sea of Japan from the Tsushima Strait every day.

The same eco-nightmare is happening in the Mediterranean and off the coast of Florida, among other places.

The Global-Warming-Is-A-Myth brigade might soon be dealing with a tougher opponent than just a few wacky treehuggers: the international fishing and tourism industries.

cross-posted at Bring It On!