Jellyfish outbreaks in coastal city beaches from a management perspective

Abstract

Jellyfish outbreaks are a worldwide natural phenomena, which may offer opportunities but also lead to difficulties to humans. In particular, they are viewed as natural hazards in coastal areas, especially in urban beaches with a high density of users, where they may present a significant risk. This paper examines the role of jellyfish outbreaks into coastal urban beaches in terms of the actions to be taken to combat these events and to develop support policies, which allow preserving the environment while satisfying social needs. The case study of Las Canteras beach (Canary Islands) is described as a representative example.

Microplastic ingestion in jellyfish Pelagia noctiluca (Forsskal, 1775) in the North Atlantic Ocean

“…During the summer of 2019, a bloom of jellyfish occurred in the Gran Canaria island (Canary Islands, Spain) similar to those documented in Rodríguez et al (2015) for this region. A total of 30 Pelagia noctiluca were collected, floating near the shore of Las Canteras beach (28° 7.854′N; 15° 26.775′W).…”

“…The surrounding waters on the eastern margin of the North Atlantic are a hot spot of marine microplastics contamination due to their geolocation (Álvarez-Hernández et al, 2019;Baztán et al, 2014;Herrera et al, 2018a;Rapp et al, 2020;Reinold et al, 2020) and a region with occasional blooms of P. noctiluca (Rodríguez et al, 2015). This increases the probability of possible interactions between jellyfish and debris.…”

Nearshore Circulation in the Confital Bay: Implications on Marine Debris Transport and Deposition at Las Canteras Beach

“…The beach of Las Canteras (Figure 1) is located at the northeastern coast of the Gran Canaria Island, and orientated towards the northwest (NW) within the Confital Bay, which is sheltered from the prevailing northeastern winds. Las Canteras is considered one of the few globally urban beaches visited throughout the year (Rodríguez et al, 2015). The beach is a 3 km long fine-grain blond sand beach, providing recreational opportunities to citizens of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the largest and most heavily populated city in the Canary Islands.…”