{"id":6439,"date":"2019-06-13T11:07:07","date_gmt":"2019-06-13T01:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/?page_id=6439"},"modified":"2019-06-13T15:26:25","modified_gmt":"2019-06-13T05:26:25","slug":"jellyfish-early-warning-system-to-help-avoid-deadly-stingers-in-fnq","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/news-events\/e-newsletters-2\/june-2019\/jellyfish-early-warning-system-to-help-avoid-deadly-stingers-in-fnq\/","title":{"rendered":"Jellyfish \u2018early warning system\u2019 to help avoid deadly stingers in FNQ"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The tiny and extremely venomous Irukandji jellyfish (Carukia barnesi<\/em>). Photo: Dr Lisa Gershwin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stings from venomous jellyfish in tropical waters are highly painful and can be fatal.<\/p>\n

The ability to predict when higher concentrations of jellyfish \u2013 known as \u2018smacks\u2019 \u2013 might occur is an attractive prospect to scientists, surf lifesavers and tourism operators alike.<\/p>\n

NESP Tropical Water Quality Hub scientists have studied where and when swimmers in Australia\u2019s northern tropical waters are most likely to be stung by Irukandji syndrome-causing jellyfish species like Carukia barnesi <\/em>and Malo kingi<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Over three years, Dr Scott Condie at CSIRO and his research team from JCU and GU have established an Australian Venomous Jellyfish Database (AVJD), now publicly available on the eAtlas database<\/strong><\/a>, which brings together data on jellyfish sightings and stings from a wide variety of sources including scientific research, Surf Lifesaving clubs and hospital records.<\/p>\n

Of all the factors affecting where and when stings occurred, wind direction was found to be the most important. Slow north-westerly winds corresponded to more stings than conditions with strong south-easterly winds. Tide height was also found to be important, with more stings occurring at low tide.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese relationships are key to making sting risk forecasts, similar to current fire danger rating forecasts, which can be made available to lifesavers, tourism operators and the general community,\u201d said Dr Condie.<\/p>\n

The project also focused on refining and expanding jellyfish monitoring. Irukandji syndrome-causing jellyfish are usually tiny and transparent, making identifying them difficult.<\/p>\n

As part of the project underwater camera rigs called \u2018Jellycams\u2019, which can automatically capture images of jellyfish that swim past them, were built and deployed at observation sites including Palm Cove and Yorkeys Knob in Cairns, and at The Strand and Magnetic Island in Townsville. The rigs also measured water temperature. Additionally, the team constructed easy-to-use jellyfish viewing boxes, which allow people untrained in jellyfish identification to capture a stinger, snap a photo on a smartphone and send it to an expert for identification.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Jellyfish viewing boxes developed under the NESP project. Unidentified jellyfish can be scooped into the container, where the black background allows an easy high-contrast photo from a smartphone, which can then be sent to an expert for a definitive identification. Photo: Scott Condie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Russell Blanchard, lifeguard supervisor for Surf Lifesaving Queensland\u2019s North Barrier Branch in Townsville, said the two jellyfish viewing boxes provided by the project \u2018had come in very handy\u2019 for volunteer surf lifesavers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve used them multiple times already – they are beneficial to volunteer surf lifesavers, who don\u2019t necessarily have the same experience identifying jellyfish by eye,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a whole our involvement in the project has been pretty beneficial, when we gather our own data on jellyfish we are usually dealing with limited areas, the researchers however have been collecting information from a much larger area which gives them a good picture of what the jellies are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cairns-based Indigenous rangers also contributed to the research providing vital advice and assistance with fieldwork. More information about this jellyfish project, including the final report, can be found on the National Environmental Science Program\u2019s Tropical Water Quality Hub website<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Back to the June<\/strong> 2019 e-Newsletter contents<\/strong><\/a><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Stings from venomous jellyfish in tropical waters are highly painful and can be fatal. The ability to predict when higher concentrations of jellyfish \u2013 known as \u2018smacks\u2019 \u2013 might … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6440,"parent":6425,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6439","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6439\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nesptropical.edu.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}