We should not assume that fishing jellyfish will solve our jellyfish problem

Abstract

Whether jellyfish are increasing or not in the global ocean is a subject of some debate, but the fact remains that when they bloom, jellyfish can negatively affect local economies. Despite this, there has been no robust debate about the idea of deliberately removing jellyfish as a means of population control. Here, we discuss the effects of fishing for jellyfish, either as a sustainable resource and/or as a way to simply reduce their nuisance value, on both individual jellyfish populations and the ecosystem. Given that the drivers influencing each local bloom are different, or that the effects of more widespread drivers may be manifested differently at each locale, our priority at population control/use needs to be more basic research on jellyfish. While we do not advocate a no-fishing approach, we emphasize the need to be cautious in embracing jellyfish fisheries as a panacea and we need to consider the management of each bloom on a case-by-case basis.

Weedy futures: can we benefit from the species that thrive in the marine Anthropocene?

“…; Gibbons et al . ). Addressing these questions will require more information about how fast weedy species grow, how much they reproduce, how they move around, how long they live, and what environmental variables cause their populations to change.…”

“…Although weedy species are not immune to overexploitation and need to be managed sustainably (Gibbons et al . ), they may recover more readily from harvesting than other species (Arkhipkin et al . ).…”

“…Gibbons et al . () cautioned that jellyfish are understudied animals and the effects of removing them in large quantities are therefore unknown, both for the jellyfish populations themselves and the marine ecosystem. This uncertainty also applies to many cephalopod species.…”

Jellyfish fisheries in the Americas: origin, state of the art, and perspectives on new fishing grounds

“…Thus, one could posit that the reverse would be true, i.e., that overfishing of jellyfish in such an ecosystem may facilitate the recovery of fish at similar trophic levels. However, in reality, such situations may not be straight-forward or predictable (Gibbons et al 2016). …”

“…Unfortunately, jellyfish have been understudied and are typically ignored or simplified in ecosystem models ). As such, the impacts of removing large amounts of jellyfish through fishing are not well understood (Gibbons et al 2016).…”