New buoy system aims to keep jellyfish away from beaches
Researchers at Spain’s Polytechnic University of Valencia and the University of Alicante have developed an anti-jellyfish buoy designed to keep swarms from reaching the shore and reduce the risk of stings to swimmers. The project comes amid a major ecological shift in the Mediterranean, including Israel’s coastline, where summer jellyfish blooms have become increasingly common, led by the invasive Rhopilema nomadica, which entered from the Indian Ocean through the Suez Canal.
The buoy uses electronic components, power sources and coils that generate electromagnetic fields. According to the team that designed and tested the system at the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Research Institute under the Polytechnic University of Valencia, those fields can disrupt jellyfish movement and keep them from approaching bathing areas. Dr. Jaime Lyort said jellyfish move by contracting and relaxing their bell-shaped bodies, and that electromagnetic fields can reduce their beating motion, immobilize them, or limit their advance toward the beach.
The effect is temporary. Once jellyfish move out of range, gravity and currents restore their normal mobility. Cesar Bordehor, a marine biologist and ecologist at the University of Alicante, said the system is completely harmless and that jellyfish can move normally after leaving the buoy’s influence zone. The researchers also say the device creates an immediate deterrent without injuring the animals or producing waste that harms the marine environment.
Unlike physical barriers, which can affect other species as well, the buoy is intended to target only jellyfish. The team says it is cheaper than fixed barriers and easier to maintain because its main parts are housed inside the buoy, making access, repair and replacement simpler. It also includes additional sensors that measure water temperature, turbidity, chlorophyll and oxygen. The system is the result of more than five years of research, and the scientists hope to deploy it on Mediterranean beaches in the hot summer months to protect bathers while avoiding harm to underwater wildlife.
