Observation: In our region, we subsist for herring fish during the last week of May and first 2 weeks of June. Since they started subsisting herring fish this year, we've been hearing that there are a lot of jelly fish swimming on our bay. There are some families that caught less herring fish than they usually do. Before my boys went to Bristol Bay to commercial fish they were subsisting fish for us. The herring set net would unusually catch less fish than before. It didn't cross my mind what was happening, until the 3rd fishing, my son said that there's a lot of jelly fish. There are some families that are catching less fish and their drying racks are less than usual.The salmon run is also poor this year. When my boys fished for 6 hours or more, they only caught 2 king salmons and 1 chum. There's some families that have enough fish and some families are less fortunate.
LEO says: LEO Network has received several posts in the past about jellyfish blooms, but this is the first in 2015. We received three in 2014 about large blooms or die-offs including from Togiak, Sand Point and Haines. Blooms of jellyfish are not generally considered uncommon, although we turn to local experts like Anna for regional information about these types of events.
Resource:
ScienceDaily, Importance of dead jellyfish to deep-sea ecosystems, "Dead jellyfish contribute to the deep-sea food chain, unlike previously thought, innovative experiments show. Researchers deployed lander systems to look at how scavengers responded to jellyfish and fish baits in the deep sea off Norway. The experiments were carried out in areas with jellyfish blooms near the ocean surface and showed that when the creatures fell to the seabed they were rapidly eaten by scavengers." Source: National Oceanography Centre
Maclean's, by Kate Lunau - Attack of the jellyfish, "Scientists debate the 'rise of slime' theory - Jellyfish blooms are nothing new: Condon has studied newspaper reports from the turn of the last century, and the Cambrian period (about 500 million years ago) by studying fossils. Researchers still don’t understand what causes a jellyfish bloom, but he says it must be part of their natural cycle."
Cooperative Extension Service Consult: Gay Sheffield, MAP Agent in Nome, AK writes, "Interesting report and very relevant as western scientists are trying to learn more in response to the increases in jellyfish and their role as a potential competitor for small fish since they sometimes eat the same things. Please see the links below for more information and contacts. Please let me know if you have any questions. -Gay NOAA Jellyfish Monitoring Program in Alaska, and Eastern Bering Sea Jellyfish.
Contact: Kristin Cieciel - Auke Bay Laboratories (907) 789-6089. Source: Sea Grant Alaska, Marine Advisory Program. Source: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Observations From Members 