Up to this point there hasn’t been a lot of research and census done on Jellyfish population, so there is no data to prove that Jellyfish populations are increasing. However, fishermen are all the time reporting that the Jellyfish are becoming more common and increasing in number.

Recently in Japan, the Phillipines and Austrailia there have been very large concentrations of Jellyfish wash ashore. The likes of which has never been seen before.

Several theories exist as to why the population might be increasing.

*Overfishing in the pacific may have thinned out the concentration of other species that compete with the Jellyfish for food.

*Declining populations of sea turtles (a natural predator of Jellyfish) could be disturbing the balance.

*It is also thought that humans dumping raw sewage into the ocean could increase plankton and microorganism levels, which would in turn cause an increase in Jellyfish food supply.

*Perhaps it has to do with changes in surface and or underwater current temperatures.

If I were to do a paper or thesis on Jellies, this is where I would focus my research. There are is a lot of informaiton and opinion out there about this overpopulatin phenomenon.