More Global Warming: Irish salmon farm wiped out by jellyfish

In a rather striking example of the current effects of global warming, the only salmon farm in Northern Ireland lost all its salmon to an attack of jellyfish.

By SHAWN POGATCHNIK - The Associated Press

DUBLIN, Ireland -- The only salmon farm in Northern Ireland has lost its entire population of more than 100,000 fish, worth some $2 million, to a spectacular jellyfish attack, its owners said Wednesday.

The Northern Salmon Co. Ltd. said billions of jellyfish in a dense pack of about 10 square miles and 35 feet deep overwhelmed the fish last week in two net pens about a mile off the coast of the Glens of Antrim, north of Belfast.

Managing director John Russell said the company's dozen workers tried to rescue the salmon, but their three boats struggled for hours to push their way through the mass of jellyfish. All the fish died from stings and stress, he said.

"It was unprecedented, absolutely amazing. The sea was red with these jellyfish and there was nothing we could do about it, absolutely nothing," Russell said.

These jelly fish have rarely been seen in waters this far north.

Global warming is happening. Fighting it will require both efforts to prevent adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and also adapting to the higher temperatures, more powerful storms, and higher sea levels. Keeping the jellyfish out of the salmon farms will be a part of the necessary adapting.