Jellyfish Fisheries in the Americas: origin, state of the art, and perspectives on new fishing grounds

SCHIARITI, A.; MIANZAN H. W.; LÓPEZ, J.; HSIEH, P.; BROTZ, L.; QUIÑONES, J. A. D.

Hiroshima

Simposio; Fourth International Jellyfish Blooms Symposium; 2013

University of Hiroshima

Originating in China more than a thousand of years ago, jellyfish fisheries are spreading worldwide to meet the increasing demand from Asian markets. Recently, Asian dealers landed in American countries, where jellyfish are still seen by most people as washed-up blobs on the beach or as a nuisance to different industries. In the mid-90´s, the collapsed shrimp fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico (USA) led fishermen and policy makers to seek out new options. Skeptical at first, the incomes generated by jellyfish products consolidated the industry initially in the USA and later in Mexico and Nicaragua based on the blooming Stomolophus meleagris (Cannonball jellyfish). The problems caused by their blooms became a socio-economical benefit injecting several million dollars into local economies. Canadians attempted to exploit Aurelia sp., however, the initiative was unsuccessful due to the undesirable quality of the salted product. Currently the cannonball is the only exploited species in the American continent, but the prospects for harvesting Lychnorhiza lucerna in Argentina appear promising. Chrysaora plocamia may reach enormous biomasses along the Humboldt Current, attracting recent attention from Chinese dealers. It is not expected that people in the Americas will include jellyfish as part of their daily diet in the near future, but jellyfish harvesting could represent an important income for artisanal fishermen. Jellyfish blooms, the low-cost investments, and the need for new sources of marine animal proteins due to the fishery crisis are generating the conditions needed to establish jellyfish fisheries in the Western hemisphere.