Just outside the Tryon River on Prince Edward Island, Brian Campbell’s boat motor began to stall as it became surrounded by lion’s mane jellyfish.
“I’ve never seen that many before,” said Campbell. “They would get caught up in that propeller. There’s quite a few of them — I want to say thousands and thousands.”
Lion’s mane jellyfish can grow to two metres in diameter with tentacles as long as 30 metres, roughly the same length as a blue whale.
What’s more? They sting.
High concentration of lion’s mane
“Wouldn’t want to be swimming there that day, that’s for sure,” said Campbell, who has been a fisherman for 42 years.
“It’s all right if you got one or two that sting you. But at that point right there, I think you could probably do some harm … if you get 30 or 40 on you.”
Last Tuesday, Campbell posted on Facebook warning people not to swim in the area. He later added a video of the encounter.
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Oceanographer Nick Record says the species is common throughout Atlantic Canada and the Gulf of Maine, but this is the first he’s heard of such a large group.
“I’m pretty sure that’s the highest concentration of lion’s mane jellyfish that anyone has reported to me,” said Record, a senior research scientist at the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, a non-profit research institution in Maine.
‘Just giants’
Record said he has noticed a new phenomenon of gigantic lion’s mane jellyfish washing up onshore.
“They’re usually about the size of a dinner plate or smaller,” he said. “The last 18 months or so there’s been a handful, maybe five to 10 instances, where they were like [one and a half to two metres] across — so just giants.”
Nick Record says he receives between 100 and 1,000 reports of jellyfish sightings each year. (Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences)
Record has been using citizen reports to track the creatures for about a decade. He said it’s hard to know whether or not jellyfish are increasing based on the reports, because while more reported sightings could mean more jellyfish, it could also just mean more people are out on the water.
That being said, there are several factors that could impact the population including weather, currents and the food chain.
“Partly it’s the biology. Jellyfish can reproduce really quickly when conditions are good,” said Record. “Partly it’s the ocean physics.”
‘I couldn’t believe how many there was’
“When I first saw it, I thought maybe somebody hit a seal up there just a little ways away,” said Chad Gallant, a lobster fisherman in North Rustico, P.E.I.
“There was a bunch of pink in the water. I thought it might’ve been blood.”
It wasn’t blood, it was jellyfish.
Unlike other living organisms, jellyfish can survive and thrive in stressed environments with little oxygen and depleted ecosystems. (Chad Gallant)
These were moon jellyfish, a different species from those Campbell saw.
“We just stopped there,” said Gallant. “I couldn’t believe how many there was.”
Gallant also posted a video on Facebook.
“It’s not too surprising to me to see a really high abundance of them,” said Record. ” But I’ve never seen a photo where they were that dense before.”
Moon jellyfish are seasonal and feed on zooplankton, according to Record. He said they “don’t generally sting,” but some people have sensitivities or allergic reactions to them.
“I thought it was kinda cool,” laughed Gallant. “It don’t bother me from going swimming again.”
Competing with fish for food
Record said there are both pros and cons to seeing groups this large.
“Some people see jellyfish as a total nuisance and large jellyfish aggregations as an unequivocally bad thing,” he said. “Other people see jellyfish as these amazing, beautiful animals and just want to take photos of them all day.”
They can impact the ecosystem in many ways, too. On one hand, they’re prey for sea turtles. On the other, they compete with fish for food.
There’s a scientific debate about whether jellyfish are increasing globally or not.— Nick Record, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences
“People have tried to get fish stocks to rebound, but because the [jellyfish] are eating the same food that the fish would be eating, it makes it more difficult for fish stocks to come back,” said Record.
But unlike other living organisms, the jellyfish can survive and thrive in stressed environments with little oxygen and depleted ecosystems.
More data needed
“There’s a scientific debate about whether jellyfish are increasing globally or not,” said Record. “In order to answer the question about whether there’s a long-term trend, you need decades of data.
“We don’t really have that in Atlantic Canada.”
According to Record, this citizen reporting program is “really the only long-term survey for jellyfish in our part of the world.”
In order to track the sea animal, Record has to know where they are. And to know where they are, he needs people to report them. Record said people can send information regarding sightings to jellyfish@bigelow.org.
There’s little doubt the videos taken around P.E.I. show a significant number of jellyfish. However, whether this means their population is climbing, the response isn’t so clear.
“We don’t know yet,” said Record. “It’ll take many years before we can answer that question.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
