NSW & ACT
Deadly irukandji and box jellyfish invading Sydney Harbour because of climate change, scientists say
- From: The Daily Telegraph
- August 08, 2014
SCIENTISTS fear it is only a matter of time before deadly irukandji and box jellyfish move from northern Australia to invade Sydney Harbour as a result of climate change warming Australia’s east coast current.
While Sydneysiders may be used to sharing the surf with rafts of bluebottles washed in whenever strong onshore winds blow in summer, Macquarie University’s Professor Rob Harcourt said warmer currents were enabling more deadly tropical species to survive further south.
“Every year scientists from Sydney Institute of Marine Science are taking a tally of new visitors to Sydney waters,’’ he said.
“Like Nemo and his friends, the turtle ‘dudes’, lots of tropical animals travel down the east coast each year being swept along in the East Australian Current (EAC).
“In summer, when these warm waters lick our shores, small tropical visitors are deposited in shore, including right in the Harbour. But as the EAC goes from strength to strength, scientists are discovering tropical fish as far south as Tasmania.’’
The marine biologist said, while there were more than 2000 types of jellyfish and many were already common off Sydney “in huge numbers’’, others like box jellyfish and irukandji were deadly.
Box jellyfish have been blamed for 64 deaths while the tiny irukandji jellyfish killed two people in north Queensland in 2002.
“The EAC is strengthening and we are getting more and more unusually warm winters,’’ he said.
“This means animals being swept down in the EAC are more likely to survive.’’