Jellyfish Sink 10-Ton Fishing Boat

Jellyfish Sink 10-Ton Fishing Boat

Updated: Monday, 02 Nov 2009, 11:52 AM PST
Published : Monday, 02 Nov 2009, 11:30 AM PST

By LILY FU

(MYFOX NATIONAL) - A 10-ton fishing boat capsized after its crew attempted to haul in a net full of large jellyfish off the eastern coast of Japan.

The Telegraph reports that dozens of Nomura's jellyfish -- each of which can weigh up to 440 pounds and can grow up to 6 feet in diameter -- sunk the boat called the Diasan Shinsho-maru and sent the three crew members into the sea. They were rescued by another boat.

Experts told the Telegraph that weather and water conditions have been favorable toward the breeding of large numbers of jellyfish recently.

"The arrival is inevitable," Professor Shinichi Ue at Hiroshima University, told the Yomiuri newspaper . "A huge jellyfish typhoon will hit the country."

Nomura's jellyfish have been known to wreak havoc in Japanese waters. They destroy fishing nets, poison the fish caught in the nets rendering them unsaleable, sting humans and even disable nuclear power stations by blocking pumps used to cool the reactors.

In 2007 the Telegraph reports that there were 15,500 reports of damage caused to fishing equipment by jellyfish. Many fishermen have tried to keep jellyfish out of their nets by using sharp wires.