Blog Post #3: Solutions to Jellyfish Overpopulation

Tackling the Jellyfish Bloom

So jellyfish are blooming all over the globe and it affects every nation, every person, and every creature in a negative way; it even affects the Earth. But what is a solution to this problem and are scientists even doing anything to tackle it? 

In "JEROS Jellyfish Eliminating Robot can Pulverize 400kg of Jellyfish an Hour", Matthew Humphries, a news writer and senior editor for Geek.com and game designer, says "a research team led by Professor Myung Hyun at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology has created a robot to do the job for us." One solution to this problem is JEROS (Jellyfish Elimination Robotic Swarm), which are robots that go out in a group of three to kill these jellyfish. The way this is done is by a GPS system and a camera in these robots that will track swarms of jellyfish and literally suck them up into a propeller and shred them into bits and pieces. 

3 JEROS searching for jellyfish to shred.
By Fincher, Jonothan | Gizmag.com

The robots are also able to kill off 2,000 pounds of jellyfish an hour and scientists say they can also be used for cleaning up marine waste in the ocean. Although this method of dealing with the problem may sound harsh, it's something scientists must do in order to prevent losing even more money when the jellyfish close down beaches, injure people, and shut down nuclear power plants. This test of jellyfish killing robots proved to actually be successful in Korea and will be commercialized in April of 2014. 

Another way of tackling this problem, and sounds more efficient, is farming jellyfish. RR Helm explains how farming jellyfish by removing salt from an area of overpopulation will turn these jellies into mulch, which is a material people spread over plants to enrich the soil. It can also be used to fertilize rice fields and its proven that rice grows more efficiently with jelly mulch. With this solution put into action, there will also be more jobs created and rice for people to eat. 

One final solution to jellyfish overpopulation is increasing the number of filefish in overpopulated areas. Filefish are natural predators of jellyfish and when scientists did a research on this, they found that there was a decrease in jellyfish once filefish were put into the water. Although this is another solution, it hasn't been too successful because filefish raised in captivity didn't have the same aggressiveness as those that were wild, so some even fled from jellyfish rather than eat them. 

With all these solutions made up and experimented with, we can all benefit from this. I personally like the idea of farming jellyfish because it will create new jobs and more food for people. Moreover, jellyfish will not invade nuclear power plants harm fisheries as bad as they used to. 

References

Gizmag. 3 JEROS searching for jellyfish to shred. Photograph. 2013. Robots exchange information about their locations to ensure they remain spaced apart evenly. Web. 14 April 2014. <http://www.gizmag.com/jellyfish-shredding-jeros-robots-dispatched-to-korea/29307/> 

Helm, RR. "Jelly Killing Machine Tested in Korea." Deepseanews, 3 October 2013. Web. 14 April 2014. 

Humphries, Matthew. "JEROS Jellyfish Elimination Robot can Pulverize 400kg of Jellyfish in an Hour." Geek, 5 October 2013. Web. 14 April 2014.

Severns, Maggie. "Watch: Robots That Hunt Down Jellyfish and Destroy Them." Motherjones, 3 March 2013. Web. 14 April 2014.

Kwon Jahyeon. "Benefit-Cost Analysis of Eliminating the Jellyfish by the Natural Predator in Korean Coastals" Amgs.or.kr, N/A. Web. 14 April 2014.