CNN----Cozumel Jellyfish - Comments?

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MikeGT

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When Jellyfish Attack
Monday, Jul. 21, 2008 By BRUCE CRUMLEY A jellyfish swims in the Mediterranean Sea.
Tarik Tinazay / AFP / GettyArticle ToolsPrintEmailReprintsSphereAddThisRSSYahoo! Buzz O.K., so they don't inspire the same cue-the-menacing-cello-music terror that killer sharks off America's beaches might, but Pelagia noctiluca has vacationers along France's Cote D'Azur wondering whether it's really safe to go back in the water. And the discomforting answer is, Probably not — unless you happen to be a big fan of jellyfish stings.

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Beaches from Marseille to Monaco have been plagued this summer by millions of the gelatinous invaders, whose burning stings have sent scores of holiday-makers fleeing the surf with yelps of pain since large numbers of jellyfish were first sighted along France's coast in June. And those menacing the shorelines are simply the outriders of giant shoals that marine biologists have identified hovering between Corsica and France's southern shores. Sections of that invertebrate mother ship are blown to land by unpredictable shifting winds that can turn coastal water into jellyfish marshes overnight — and then leave the same area virtually stinger-free the following day. A large part of the current jellyfish scare is that swimmers rarely know whether the water into which they're wading is benign Mediterranean surf or a dense minefield of tentacles.

The anxiety of the vacationers is forcing some tourism-dependent cities to take defensive measures. Several municipalities have prohibited swimming when the glob-to-human ratio gets too high. Such bans risk provoking the wrath of sweaty vacationers, but the alternative can be grim: on July 15 alone, rescue crews were called to the beaches of suburban Nice nearly 500 times to treat people for jellyfish stings.

Though jellyfish stings don't match shark attacks as a threat to human life — fatalities are usually linked to a few highly toxic species or (more frequently) shock and drowning resulting from multiple stings to people who swim into dense shoals — some French towns battling la meduse have adapted defensive methods from shark-plagued resorts elsewhere in the world. Cannes, for example, has invested nearly $50,000 in floaters and netting to create jellyfish-free zones the size of Olympic swimming pools at two of its most popular beaches. Similar systems have been deployed in Monaco and along certain sections of Marseille's coast. Though nets boast near perfect records in protecting bathers from stings, they do nothing to counter the larger jellyfish onslaught. Last year, Cannes shoveled over 11 million tons of the gooey creatures off its beaches — just a tiny fraction of a population that floats away to sting another day.

The bad news, according to experts, is that there's more of that gummy pain on the way. Overfishing and other destructive human activity have prompted the prolific multiplication of jellyfish by decimating their natural predators: tuna, sharks and turtles. That, and the fact that global warming has raised the water temperature of the Mediterranean by a degree, have produced an explosion of the jellyfish population and a prolonged presence of the creatures in waters where humans like to flounder. Traditionally, scientists say, jellyfish turn up along France's coastline every 10 to 12 years, for a period of four to five years. This is the eighth consecutive year that ever larger populations of jellyfish have camped out off the south of France — a trend experts say is unlikely to reverse itself since it reflects a domination of jellyfish over rivals in the food chain. Similar evolution has been noted in recent years off Spain, Italy and Greece.

Some Europeans have simply factored Pelagia noctiluca into their beach experience. Full-body Lycra suits designed to shield the skin from UV sun rays have become hot commodities this summer, according to Nice scuba-shop owner Stéphane Pinier, ever since people discovered that the garments also block jellyfish tentacles. Of course, choosing that method of avoiding the sting can itself be painful: the ungainly getup costs nearly $110.

But for those unwilling to compromise by adopting the soggy Jack LaLanne look or swimming in the safety of a net-protected "pool," doctors have some advice for coping with the sting. Rinse the lesion with cool seawater, they say, and once dry, apply a medicated cream to lessen the pain. Physicians warn against common but counter-productive remedies such as dousing the sting with drinking water, rubbing it with sand, trying to suck the venom from it and — especially — urinating on it. These "therapies," doctors say, are all certain to aggravate the sting's burning sensation, and the last one ... well, it's not only useless and disgusting, it adds insult to jellyfish injury.
 
uhhhh??????

:confused:
 
what do jellyfish off the coast of the French Riviera have to do with Cozumel? I am missing your point. :confused:
Reported, wrong forum.

If the poster wants to know if JF are seen there? If you're lucky you may see some pretty ones. Stingers are rare, but it's prudent to wear a full jump suit and know how to purget your reg under a layer of them to ascend thru them.
 
know how to purget your reg under a layer of them to ascend thru them.

How is that? When I was diving down there nothing was brought up about this so pardon me if I am a little naive on this.

Brian
 
How is that? When I was diving down there nothing was brought up about this so pardon me if I am a little naive on this.

Brian
Haha, well they probly gave you good briefings but could not cover all possibilities. Just one of those tricks good to know when diving the sea...

Occasionally on ascent one will discover that a herd/flock/swarm/bunch/whatever of Jellies have drifted overhead. They generally drift in the shallows feeding, and if you discover such a collection, you can purge your alternate reg to cause a stream of bubbles which will pull a JF free water column up much like the bubbles in the vertical tubes of an aquarium's undergravel filter system. Safer to ascend in it.

It's also prudent to carry a beanie and gloves in your BC pocket and hydrocortisone in your first aid kit in case plan A fails. It was rumored for years to use vinegar on JF stings, but DAN recently announced that works only for the Sea Wasp of the Indo-Pacific, if you live long enough to reach the boat. Ah the things you read on SB - some of which are true... :eyebrow:

Corytank.jpg
 
Thanks that is a good tip to know, never thought of that.

Brian
 
The jellyfish that Don is referring to are the small thimble jellies that are here for a month or two in the spring. However, a good divemaster will not have you surface in a congregation of them...and a good captain will not drop you in on top of them.

They are not poisonous and are more of an irritation if you get stung by them and they do not have tentacles. Vinegar DOES actually work to relieve the sting and is in fact what we use for the thimble jelly stings and has been "approved" by DAN. The sting and welts (in extreme cases) usually don't last more than an hour unless you are extra sensitive to them.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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