Overfishing is associated with several negative ideas such as: the consumption of unsustainable food, the extinction of million year old species, and the jellyfish taking over our oceans. Yes, I know you weren’t really expecting that last one were you? Well unfortunately, jellyfish such as the Mnemiopsis leidyi or Sea Walnut (pictured below), are starting to take over the overfished waters of the Mediterranean.
Courtesy of Vidar.
There are several factors, outlined in Time’s – Jellyfish: A Gelatinous Invasion, affecting this jellyfish takeover including ocean acidification, a by-product of global warming. A main contributor though is overfished waters. When commercial fisheries target certain species in a specific location, they begin to wipe out all of this type of fish. For instance, if you are targeting a smaller sized fish and the population begins to decrease, there is going to be less food for the larger fish to eat. This also means that the jellyfish that the small fish used to eat are no longer around to eat them. This results in more and more jellyfish in an environment where there are less and less fish.
This is creating huge problems that could be irreversible. An example is Australian shrimpers who have been forced to keep their nets and boats at home, or the clogging of a Japanese power-plant’s cooling system because of an overwhelming jellyfish population.
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Yea…predictions state that jelly fish will rule the oceans by 2048 if fish populations collapse.