Ocean Care Solutions posted information from the University of British Columbia on how jellyfish are increasing in the majority of the world’s coastal ecosystems.

In a study published in this month’s edition of the journal Hydrobiologia, Ocean Care Solutions pointed out that the Canadian scientists found increased jellyfish populations in 45 of the world’s 66 large marine ecosystems.

The infestation and growth areas include East Asia, the Black Sea, the Mediterranean, the Northeast U.S. Shelf, Hawaii, and Antarctica.

“There has been anecdotal evidence that jellyfish were on the rise in recent decades, but there hasn’t been a global study that gathered together all the existing data until now,” said lead author Lucas Brotz, a PhD student with the Sea Around Us Project. “Our study confirms these observations scientifically after analysis of available information from 1950 to the present for more than 138 different jellyfish populations around the world.”

Co-author Daniel Pauly added, “By combining published scientific data with other unpublished data and observations, we could make this study truly global – and offer the best available scientific estimate of a phenomenon that has been widely discussed. We can also see that the places where we see rising numbers of jellyfish are often areas heavily impacted by humans, through pollution, overfishing, and warming waters.”

Courtesy of Lucas Brotz, PhD student with the Sea Around Us Project.

For more information on jellyfish, visit Ocean Care Solutions.