Hundreds of beach-going Brazilians were stung by a smack of jellyfish yesterday. "Authorities blamed an extreme heat wave over the southeastern region." Jellyfish smacks and stings: the Christmas gift that keeps on giving (thanks J.R.).
Shifting Baselines
The Cure for Planetary Amnesia
The Shifting Baselines Blog
Jennifer Jacquet is a Ph.D. candidate with the Sea Around Us Project at the UBC Fisheries Centre. She works closely with Dr. Daniel Pauly, who coined the term Shifting Baselines, the syndrome on which this blog focuses.
Josh Donlan is a conservation scientist and a Visting Fellow at Cornell University. He often hides out in the backcountry of the Teton Mountains, pondering bygone giant beavers and ground sloths. He also is also the founder and Director of Advanced Conservation Strategies and has a habit of restoring remote islands.
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July 26, 2008: Randy Olson's film Sizzle premieres on the East Coast at the Woods Hole Film Festival in MA.
July 22, 2008: Jennifer Jacquet gives the talk "A Way Forward in a Sea of Market Based Initiatives to Save Wild Fish" at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, CA.
July 19, 2008: Randy Olson's film Sizzle premieres on the West Coast at Outfest in Hollywood, CA.
July 17, 2008: Jennifer Jacquet gives the talk "In Hot Soup: Shark's Captured in Ecuador's Waters" at the Society for Conservation Biology Annual Meeting in Chattanooga, TN.
July 9, 2008: Jennifer Jacquet gives the talk "Flawed Data, Reef Fisheries, And Food Security: A Close Inspection Of Marine Fisheries Catches in Mozambique, Tanzania, Fiji, And The Solomon Islands" at the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
June/July 2008: Josh Donlan attends training for his Kinship Conservation Fellowship in Bellingham, WA.
May 2008: Josh Donlan is an author on a new paper in Ambio titled High impact Conservation: Invasive Mammal Eradications from the Islands of Western Mexico.
May 15, 2008: Jennifer Jacquet reviews Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood at the Tyee.
April 2008: Trade Secrets: Renaming and Mislabeling of Seafood by Jennifer Jacquet and Daniel Pauly is published in Marine Policy.
April 2008: Randy Olson and the Puget Sound Partnership release the flash video Shifting Baselines in the Sound:.
Mar. 2008: Dr. Josh Donlan joins the Shifting Baselines blog.
Jan. 2008 Jennifer Jacquet launches the Eat Like a Pig Seafood Wallet Card
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End the Year with a Sting
Category: Losing Track
Posted on: December 31, 2007 9:22 AM, by Jennifer L. Jacquet
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Environment
Comments
Does any one know if jellyfish can be used as fertilizer? Maybe give the US cornbelt a "smack"down?
Posted by: Jon | December 31, 2007 10:02 AM
It annoys me they called Portugese man o/ war a jellyfish with no explanation that it actually isn't.
Posted by: Ace of Sevens | December 31, 2007 6:59 PM
Ace! You're right! Even Wikipedia agrees. Any suggestions on how to change the perception? As for jellyfish (or Man o' Wars) as fertilizer, I don't see why not. The Unnatural History of the Sea is full of accounts of fish being used in that way. I don't know how rich in nitrogen levels jellies are, but there is reason to think jellies would be a better source of omega-3 (DHA) than menhaden.
Posted by: Jennifer L. Jacquet | January 3, 2008 7:40 AM
Although Ace is technically right, the generally accepted definition of 'jellyfish' is much more broad. This misrepresentaion may irk some of the more fastidious among us, but I think the inclusive definition is actually useful. "True" jellyfish are usually described as belonging to the class Scyphozoa. Thus, if we adopt such a definition we would have to exclude not only the MOWs but also the infamous box jellyfish [sic] and the irukandji, which are responsible for most human deaths due to jellies. If we start referring to these headlining animals as non-jellyfish, we're just going to confuse the public. Many scientists also subscribe to this definition, noting that most of these organisms have similar ecological roles as higher-order carnivores in plankton communities. Although this sweeping definition can create some confusion (e.g. ctenophores, salps), I think it is useful for communicating with the public. Clearly the issues surrounding gelatinous zooplankton in today's oceans apply to more than just scyphozoans, and getting lost in semantics doesn't help with public awareness. If it looks, acts, and swims like a jellyfish, I say we call it a jellyfish. Need to get specific about a particular group or species? That's why we have Latin.
Posted by: Lucas Brotz | January 9, 2008 2:54 PM