CADIZ – Both scientists and the general public are fascinated by jellyfish.  Jellyfish swarms in the Mediterranean and Black Seas are a recurrent phenomenon with impacts on many aspects of life such as public health, recreation, tourism, fisheries, aquaculture and ecosystems. But this phenomenon also occurs in other areas of the world, requiring scientists to take global perspective.

The EU-funded PERSEUS project organised this first-of-its-kind international workshop “Coming to grips with the jellyfish phenomenon in the Southern European and other Seas: research to the rescue of coastal managers” held in Cadiz, Spain on 2-3 March 2015. The PERSEUS event was co-financed by the International Ocean Commission (IOC) of UNESCO and CEIMAR.

The Scientific Coordinator of the event, Dr. Laura Prieto, Researcher in CSIC, noted: “It was a unique event that for the first time, brought together scientists from all the oceans and seas of our planet, as well as regional stakeholders.  Progress was made on building solid grounds for future research regarding jellyfish (including gelatinous plankton from different groups as scyphozoans, ctenophores, salps, etc).”

This high-level workshop attracted over 70 participants including world-renowned experts on jellyfish blooms, including Kylie Pitt, Cathy Lucas, Mark Gibbons, Ferdinando Boero, Robert Condon and Stefano Piraino, who addressed issues as varied as the impact of offshore platforms on jellyfish populations, molecular genetics of jellyfish species, the development of jellyfish dispersion and forecasting models, and the global correlation between anthropogenic activities and blooming of the same species.

The main focus of the Workshop was to review progress in current scientific understanding of jellyfish blooms and their dynamics, and to discuss the development of observational systems that will eventually enable better management of their impacts.

As an outcome, the workshop participants forwarded a common set of recommendations to steer future research on jellyfish blooms. The full proceedings of the workshop will be available from the PERSEUS website in the coming weeks.  In the meantime, PERSEUS is continuing its work on the Jellyfish spotting Citizen Science Campaign for the Mediterranean and Black Seas.

For more information, please contact the PERSEUS Organising Committee:

Laura Prieto, ICMAN-CSIC, Spain (Lead Organiser)

laura.prieto@icman.csic.es

Alenka Malej, NIB, Slovenia

Alenka.Malej@mbss.org

Alan Deidun, University of Malta

alan.deidun@um.edu.mt

Valentina Tirelli, OGS Trieste, Italy

vtirelli@ogs.trieste.it

Tamara Shiganova, Shirshov Institute of Oceanology RAS, Russia

shiganov@ocean.ru

Media coverage of this event included:

http://www.ecoticias.com/naturaleza/100895/Congreso-sobre-Medusas-Cadiz

http://noticias.lainformacion.com/ciencia-y-tecnologia/ciencias-marinas/cadiz-acoge-un-encuentro-internacional-sobre-el-impacto-de-las-invasiones-de-medusas_Qef2z27deeD5w2utnce5o7/

http://eldia.es/agencias/7978443-Cadiz-acoge-encuentro-internacional-impacto-invasiones-medusas