Norwegian researchers with the country’s Institute of Marine Research and Norway’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Research Fund are calling for help from fishermen to detect and track string jellyfish in the North Atlantic.
The institute put out a release calling for help from fishers to try and curb the impacts of string jellyfish on salmon farms in Norway in a program called the JellySafe Project. String jellyfish incursions on salmon farms have reduced the country’s salmon output by tens of thousands of metric tons through elevated mortalities.
“We urgently need observations from fishers in Scotland, England and the Faroe Islands,” Institute of Marine Research Project Leader Tina Oldham said in a release.
The institute said its researchers’ current theory is that string jellyfish are passing west of Ireland and between the Faroe and Shetland islands on their way to Norway. The leading theory is that the jellyfish use the North Atlantic current to drift along in the ocean, which leads them directly to where many of Norway’s salmon farms are concentrated.
Norwegian salmon farming company SalMar has faced the jellyfish invasion multiple times. Its Q4 2023 results were dampened by jellyfish attacks that caused severe impacts to the its salmon welfare, and both it and Mowi were hit by jellyfish swarms in Q1 2024.
The institute said it is trying several different methods to protect salmon aquaculture net pens from jellyfish incursions, including brush-wall barriers, electric barriers, bubble curtains, and shielding skirts.
“But even the most effective protective measure is only helpful if we have early warning that jellyfish are coming,” Oldham said.
The institute said fishers in Scotland, England, Shetland, Orkney, the Faroes Islands, Ireland, and Northern Britain can all help by keeping an eye out for the long, rope-like jellyfish. If fishers spot the jellyfish, the institute is asking them to take a photo if possible and report it to dugnadforhavet.no, with a note on position and date.
“Even if you are not sure what you saw, please report it. Every sighting helps,” Tone Falkenhaug with the Institute of Marine Research said.
To help fishers identify the jellyfish, the institute has put together an online video detailing the issues and how they can help through reporting the jellyfish.
“Their reports will be used to understand when, where, and why string jellyfish occur,” the institute said.
The JellySafe Project is being funded by the Norwegian Seafood Research Fund, with a budget of NOK 35 million (USD 3.4 million, EUR 2.9 million). The Institute of Marine Research and the University of Bergen are also providing support, contributing NOK 2.5 million (USD 243,000, EUR 212,000).
Norway is not the only country which has had to grapple with jellyfish problems. Scottish salmon farms were impacted in January 2025 by an invasion of barbed-wire jellyfish, which killed nearly 200,000 salmon in multiple sites.
