Text in post: Citizen science is becoming widely recognised as the report from this Scottish conference reflects. It is also providing invaluable insights into jellyfish ecology and enabling the remarkable strandings of barrel jellyfish to be recorded systematically.

Citizen Science – Scottish report on a range of projects

Public involvement in monitoring our environment is growing; individuals, communities, groups and young people across Scotland are getting involved in designing and contributing to citizen science surveys and projects. Citizen science enables people to get involved in understanding and protecting their local environment, helping to build a wider appreciation of the natural world and of our impacts upon it. This event looked at ongoing and new opportunities for getting involved in local environmental surveying – focussing on air, water and soil & land. To read more

http://www.snh.gov.uk/policy-and-guidance/sharing-good-practice/presentations/document/?category_code=SGP&topic_id=1652 

Marine charity says increase in jellyfish ‘smacks’ should not be ignored

MCS   ‘The UK’s leading marine charity says 2015 has been another bumper year for jellyfish sightings in UK seas. The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) says the massive barrel jellyfish have appeared in record numbers for a second consecutive year, whilst in July huge numbers of mauve stingers were reported off Guernsey, and the potentially dangerous Portuguese Man O War has been washing up on beaches in the South West. MCS says that the rise of jellyfish in UK seas can no longer be ignored, and that more dedicated research and monitoring is needed to understand these apparent increases and what they mean for the state of our seas.

“Our National Jellyfish Survey suggests significant recent rises in the numbers of some jellyfish species in UK seas, most notably the barrel. The million-dollar question is why is this happening? At the moment we just don’t know,” says Dr Peter Richardson, MCS Biodiversity and Fisheries Programme Manager.   The MCS Jellyfish Survey started in 2003 and involves thousands of sea and beach-going public reporting their jellyfish encounters online at the MCS website. 2013 was a record year, with the survey receiving over 1,000 reports involving hundreds of thousands of jellyfish. Last year the number of reports increased again to over 1,400 reports, and by July this year the survey had already received over 1,000 reports. August is usually a peak month for jellyfish sightings and so 2015 looks set to be another record breaker. The charity says that barrel jellyfish normally make up 10% of its annual reports, but last year they made up 40%. So far in 2015, a whopping 75% of records have involved barrel jellyfish sightings. MCS urges the public to report their jellyfish sightings online at www.mcsuk.org, but urges caution, suggesting people look at, but don’t touch jellyfish because their stings can range from mild to very painful

http://www.mcsuk.org/sightings/jellyfish.php