Copyright Notice
On the conditions of the 2012 cannonball jellyfish (Stomolophus meleagris) bloom in Golfo de Santa Clara: a fishery opportunity?
Alfredo Girón‐Nava, Catalina López‐Sagástegui, Octavio Aburto‐Oropeza, This electronic reprint is provided by the author(s) to be consulted by fellow scientists. It is not to be used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research. Further reproduction or distribution of this reprint is restricted by copyright laws. If in doubt about fair use of reprints for research purposes, the user should review the copyright notice contained in the original journal from which this electronic reprint was made.
Fisheries Management and Ecology Fisheries Management and Ecology, 2015, 22, 261–264
Management and Ecological Note On the conditions of the 2012 cannonball jellyfish (Stomolophus meleagris) bloom in Golfo de Santa Clara: a fishery opportunity? -NAVA, A . G I R ON Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
E Z - S A G AS TEGUI C . L OP UCMEXUS, University of California Riverside, Riverside, CA, USA
O. ABURTO-OROPEZA Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
In 2012, a massive bloom of the cannonball jellyfish Stomolophus meleagris (Agassiz) occurred in El Golfo de Santa Clara (GSC), Sonora, Mexico, allowing the local artisanal fleet to land approximately 20 000 t, which generated almost 3.5 million US$ in revenue (Agencias 2013). Moreover, the bloom generated such enthusiasm that locals invested millions of dollars in infrastructure and equipment hoping that 2013 would bring another successful jellyfish fishing season. The jellyfish never arrived in 2013 and those investments became losses (Organizaci on Editorial Mexicana 2013). This situation prompts the question whether it is possible and responsible to promote fisheries that are based on resources that become available as a result of bloom events. An analysis of environmental conditions that allowed such a massive bloom to occur was undertaken and a brief commentary on the long-term viability of such bloom-related fisheries is presented. The cannonball jellyfish, S. meleagris, is one of the most exploited species of jellyfish globally with a distribution spanning from New England to Brazil in the Atlantic and from southern California to the equator in the Pacific (Kramp 1961; Larson 1976; Omori 1978). Reports of this species in Mexican waters include the coast of Sonora, in the Gulf of California, all the way south to Oaxaca, where they find prime habitat inside coastal lagoons (Luna & Aguirre 1999). S. meleagris
can reproduce asexually during its polyp phase (Calder 1983), and water temperature is the main regulator for strobilation (Hern andez-Tlapale 2010). Sugiura (1965) found that the critical minimum temperature to induce strobilation is between 20 and 22 °C and Castelo-Bautista (2012) showed that polyps can only survive in areas where temperatures do not exceed 29 °C and sufficient food is readily available. To analyse the 2012 bloom event, oceanographic parameters were obtained by averaging data for sea surface temperature (SST) and Chlorophyll a concentration (Chla) from the Aqua/MODIS (NASA) sensor at a spatial resolution of 9 km2 every 3 days for two localities: Guaymas (27.800568 °N, 110.759894 °W) and GSC (31.644338 °N, 114.497799 °W). Official landing records reported by the Mexican Commission of Fisheries and Aquaculture (CONAPESCA) were compiled from two fishing offices: (1) GSC, where the bloom occurred; and (2) Guaymas, a fishing port located 750 km south from GSC, where cannonball jellyfish have been commercially fished for the past decade. When the 2012 jellyfish bloom occurred, fishers from GSC started landing cannonball jellyfish on May 24th and continued until July 9th when they had exploited almost the entire bloom. Although there is no information on the maturation time for S. meleagris, Pitt et al. (2008) found that Catostylus mosaicus (Quoy & Gaimard), a
Correspondence: Jos e Alfredo Gir on Nava: Marine Biology Research Division, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, USA (e-mail: jgironna@ucsd.edu)
© 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
doi: 10.1111/fme.12115
261
262
J. A. GIR ON-NAVA ET AL.
scyphozoan with a similar life cycle, requires 28 days for the maturation of an ephyra. This may suggest that the high abundance of adult organisms in GSC was related to a reproduction event approximately 1 month before. Given that Guaymas is the nearest place to GSC where this species is known to complete its life cycle (Carvalho et al. 2011, 2012), it was assumed to be the reproduction ground for the individuals fished in GSC. Considering an advective movement of a jellyfish with the northward Gulf of California Current, which has an average speed of 30 cm s 1 and runs along the eastern coast of the Baja peninsula until it reaches GSC (Lav ın et al. 2006), a jellyfish would take approximately 30 days to travel the distance between Guaymas and GSC. This is enough time for the organisms to completely develop, supporting the idea that Guaymas was most likely the main reproduction ground of the adult individuals fished in the bloom in GSC in 2012. The Ideal Range of Temperature for Strobilation and Survival (IRTSS) for S. meleagris is shown in Fig. 1
2012
(Sugiura 1965; Hern andez-Tlapale 2010; Castelo-Bautista 2012) as dashed lines. During 2012, the IRTSS coincided with a very high Chla concentration (12 mg m 3) and phytoplankton bloom lasting 1 month in the proposed spawning grounds in Guaymas. Total catch in GSC was calculated as an average for every 3 days and was correlated to Chla in Guaymas 1 month before (catch = 312.62 Chla + 787.56; r2 = 0.606; P < 0.01); therefore, it appears that jellyfish abundance may have been regulated by food availability at the reproduction grounds during 2012. A decline in catch after Chla returned to low values indicated the end of the bloom. During 2013, there was a smaller phytoplankton bloom at the beginning of the IRTSS in Guaymas, but no jellyfish were present in GSC. However, mean Chla in Guaymas during the IRTSS in 2012 was 3.1629 mg m 3, while it was only 1.5120 mg m 3 in 2013. Even when the jellyfish spawned and developed at Guaymas in 2013, the density of organisms was not high enough to support a fishery more than 700 km to the north during
(a)
(d)
(b)
(e)
(c)
(f)
2013
Figure 1. (a) Capture reported in Golfo de Santa Clara (GSC) during 2012 and (d) during 2013. (b) Chla (mg m 3) for Guaymas and GSC during 2012 and (e) during 2013. (c) SST (°C) in Guaymas and GSC during 2012 and (f) during 2013. Grey lines represent the parameters measured in GSC and black lines in Guaymas. Dashed lines indicate the ideal range of SST to induce strobilation in S. meleagris and for adult survive.
© 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
UPPER GULF OF CALIFORNIA JELLYFISH BLOOM
2013, as occurred in 2012. This analysis suggests that a fishery of S. meleagris in the Gulf of California may be regulated by the IRTSS, but also by food availability. Spawning of S. meleagris in the Gulf of California has been reported between February and May (Carvalho et al. 2011), and it may be associated with the IRTSS. It is, however, important to consider that there is not always enough food to support a jellyfish bloom even if SST conditions suit. In recent years, there has been an emerging concern worldwide regarding massive jellyfish blooms and their relationship to environmental degradation and climatic change (Mills 2001; Parsons & Lalli 2002; Purcell 2005; Purcell et al. 2007). These types of events are generally so unpredictable that in 2007, the scientific community organised the ‘Second International Jellyfish Blooms Symposium’ in Queensland, Australia, to try and understand the causes and consequences of such blooms. Many studies link jellyfish population blooms to climatic trends at decadal scales (Purcell 2005), more often than to ecosystems degradation. Even with such little understanding on jellyfish blooms, there is a growing market based on the development of jellyfish fisheries that cater mostly to an Asian market (Garrido et al. 2007). While there has been a reduced occurrence of these organisms in Asiatic waters, American waters have seen an increase in jellyfish blooms in regions like the Gulf of California and the Gulf of Mexico. US and Mexican seafood buyers now regularly supply Asian markets with jellyfish (Hsieh et al. 1996). In the last 5 years, Mexico in particular has taken advantage of these new market opportunities and fisheries are being established throughout the Gulf of California, generating significant revenues in Sonora and Sinaloa (Garrido et al. 2007; Carvalho et al. 2011). The results of this study show that the jellyfish presence in GSC in 2012 was likely associated with at least two phenomena: (1) a phytoplankton bloom that provided food and (2) the IRTSS. Also, it is important to note that the organisms were advected by a northward current, and when they arrived to GSC, they found favorable temperatures and food densities to sustain their presence. The prediction of cannonball jellyfish blooms may be a challenging task, but future work can rely on the use of satellite information, fisheries records and reproductive biology experiments to create models that can predict the conditions that allow these organisms to bloom. This study demonstrates that for S. meleagris to occur in significant numbers in the GSC large and longlasting phytoplankton blooms occurring in Guaymas that can support development to adulthood are required. After such a productive fishing season in 2012, the Mexican government began promoting fishing © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
programmes that aim at developing a jellyfish fishery in the GSC. The government has issued fishing permits and has even gone as far as organising training courses to teach fishermen how to catch and process jellyfish as if the presence of the resource can be guaranteed year after year. Research in Mexico has mostly focused on understanding the reproductive biology of S. meleagris and its response to environmental stimuli (Luna & Aguirre 1999; Carvalho et al. 2011, 2012), but few efforts have been undertaken to link this information to social and economic information. Such analyses will be fundamental in informing the fisheries management of the region strategies. It is important for fishers and fisheries managers to understand that the jellyfish bloom that occurred in 2012 in GSC was an exceptional case, and that even in places where this resource is regularly available, it has been a challenge to establish reliable fisheries because volumes vary largely from year to year. Investing in infrastructure, equipment and training to extract such “bloom resources” that can not be somewhat guaranteed is not a responsible move. This is especially true for communities that rely heavily on marine resources as their primary source of income. Acknowledgments We dedicate this study to Miguel Lav ın who devoted his life to understanding the beauty of the Gulf of California. We thank all the fishers from El Golfo de Santa Clara who collected data and Y. Flores, J. Monta~nez and J. Vazquez for assistance on the field. This research is part of a larger effort led by the Gulf of California Marine Program at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography to implement citizen science projects in the region. We are grateful to the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation and Helmsley Charitable Trust for supporting the work of the GCMP. References Agencias (2013) Afecta a pescadores de Sonora insuficiencia de medusas. El imparcial. Available at http://www.elimparcial. com/EdicionEnlinea/Notas/Sonora/11082013/739602-Afecta-apescadores-de-Sonora-insuficiencia-de-medusas.html (accessed January 10th, 2014). Calder R. (1983) Nematocysts of stages in the life cycle of Stomolophus meleagris, with keys to scyphistomae and ephyrae of some western Atlantic Scyphozoa. Canadian Journal of Zoology 61, 1185–1192. Carvalho L., L opez J. & Garc ıa F. (2011) Biolog ıa reproductiva de la medusa bola de ca~ n on Stomolophus meleagris en la laguna Las Gu asimas, Sonora, M exico Reproductive biology
263
264
J. A. GIR ON-NAVA ET AL.
of the Cannonball Jellyfish Stomolophus meleagris in Las Guasimas. Hidrobiol ogica 21, 77–88. Carvalho L., L opez J. & Garc ıa F. (2012) Fecundidad de la medusa Stomolophus meleagris (Rhizostomeae: Stomolophidae) en el Golfo de California. Revista de Biolog ıa Tropical 60, 1721–1729. Castelo-Bautista B. (2012) Efecto de la temperatura en el metabolismo respiratorio en la fase p olipo de la medusa bola de ca~n on Stomolophus Meleagris. Bachelor Thesis, La Paz: Universidad Aut onoma de Baja California Sur, 50 pp. Garrido A., S anchez A. & F elix F. (2007) Importancia de la Scyphomedusa bola de ca~n on Stomolophus meleagris, en el estado de Tabasco. Kuxulkab’ Revista de Divulgaci on: Universidad Ju arez Aut onoma de Tabasco 13, 27–30. Hern andez-Tlapale C. (2010) Efecto de la temperatura en la reproducci on asexual de la fase p olipo en la medusa bola de ca~n on Stomolophus meleagris Agassiz 1862 (Schyphozoa, Rhizostomeae) en condicciones controladas. Bachelor Thesis, Oaxaca: Universidad del Mar, 55 pp. Hsieh Y.H.P., Leong F.M. & Barnes K.W. (1996) Inorganic constituents in fresh and processed cannonball jellyfish (Stomolophus meleagris). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 44, 3117–3119. Kramp P. (1961) Synopsis of medusae of the worlds. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK 40, 1–471. Larson R. (1976) Marine Flora and Fauna of the Northeastern United States Cnidaria?: Scyphozoa. NOAA Technical Report NMFS Circular 397. 26 pp. Lav ın M.F., Beier E., G omez-Vald es J., God ınez V.M. & Garc ıa J. (2006) On the summer poleward coastal current off SW M exico. Geophysical Research Letters 33, 1–4.
Luna A.O. & Aguirre S.G. (1999) Stomolophus meleagris en dos lagunas costeras de Oaxaca, M exico. Anales del ICML UNAM 70, 71–77. Mills C.E. (2001) Jellyfish blooms : are populations increasing globally in response to changing ocean conditions ? Hydrobiologia 451, 55–68. Omori M. (1978) Zooplankton fisheries of the world: a review. Marine Biology 48, 199–205. Organizaci on Editorial Mexicana (2013) Falta de arribo de aguamala dej o p erdidas millonarias en el poblado del Golfo de Santa Clara. La Prensa:Organizaci on Editorial Mexicana. Available at http://www.oem.com.mx/laprensa/notas/n3041845. htm (accessed January 10th, 2014). Parsons T. & Lalli C. (2002) Jellyfish population explosions: revisiting a hypothesis of possible causes. Sici et e francojaponaise d’oc eanographie 40, 111–121. Pitt K., Clement A.L., Connolly R.M. & Thibault-Botha D. (2008) Predation by jellyfish on large and emergent zooplankton: implications for benthic–pelagic coupling. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 76, 827–833. Purcell J. (2005) Climate effects on formation of jellyfish and ctenophore blooms: a review. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the UK 85, 461–476. Purcell J., Uye S. & Lo W. (2007) Anthropogenic causes of jellyfish blooms and their direct consequences for humans: a review. Marine Ecology Progress Series 350, 153–174. Sugiura Y. (1965) On the life-history of Rhizostome Medusae. III. On the effects of temperature on the strobilation of Mastigias papua. Biological Bulletin 128, 493–496.
© 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd