Invasion

Just like the themes of TV Sci Fi shows this season, that deal with strange alien creatures from the sea; Invasion and Surface, Japan is facing an alien invasion that is impacting on its fishing communities.

And scientists suggest it is being caused by the increasing warming of the Ocean caused by climate warming.

Invasion of the giant jellyfish

Thursday, January 19, 2006; Posted: 4:24 p.m. EST (21:24 GMT)

A diver swims behind a giant nomura jellyfish in waters off Echizen, Japan.

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- A slimy jellyfish weighing as much as a sumo wrestler has Japan's fishing industry in the grip of its poisonous tentacles.

Vast numbers of Echizen kurage, or Nomura's jellyfish, have appeared around Japan's coast since July, clogging and ripping fishing nets and forcing fishermen to spend hours hacking them apart before bringing home their reduced catches.

Representatives of fishing communities around the country gathered in Tokyo on Thursday, hoping to thrash out solutions to a pest that has spread from the Japan Sea to the Pacific coast.

"It's a terrible problem. They're like aliens," Noriyuki Kani of the fisheries federation in Toyama, northwest of Tokyo, told Reuters ahead of the conference.

There are no official figures on the size of the problem, but Kani says the financial losses are obvious.

Spikes in population have occurred in the past, notably in 1958, but consecutive outbreaks in 2002 and 2003 prompted the government to seek reasons and solutions.

Scientists have suggested global warming might be a factor.

Tags
environment
fishing
jelly fish
Japan
climate change