New tool for systematic and routine monitoring of jellyfish in the Balearic Islands
Mr. Biel Company, Counselor of Agriculture, Environment and Territory from the Balearic Islands Government presented the first results of a new decision support tool developed to establish the presence of jellyfish in the coastal areas of the Balearic Islands. The Counselor was accompanied by the General Director of Rural and Marine Environment, Ms. Margaret Mercadal; the General Director of Interior, Emergencies and Justice, Mr. Sergi Torrandell; Dr. Joaquín Tintoré, SOCIB’s Director; Mr. Guillermo Vizoso, researcher at IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB) and Mr. Antoni Grau, Head of Marine Resources Service.
The development of this tool has been carried out in the frame of a project leaded by PI. Laura Prieto from ICMAN (CSIC) and has involved several departments from the Balearic Islands Government working in a coordinated manner for the first time with different scientific institutions such as IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB) and ICMAN, and in this first year has also involved the collaboration of the municipalities of Alcudia and Muro.
This tool will help to understand the relationship between environmental conditions and the occurrence of jellyfish blooms in Balearic Island beaches, which will also allow the future implementation of a system for predicting jellyfish blooms, tracking and mitigation of its effects.
