Ouch! Now it's time for the Côte's jellyfish to feel the sting

Pelagia noctiluca in the waters of the côte d'azur

This prediction does not bode well for the region's number one customers - its tourists - and after many years of trying to keep these pesky sea creatures from their waters, the Office du Tourisme et des Congrès seem to have finally ‘hit the mark’ with their latest recruit in the war against the stingers.

In a press conference held last Monday, the Oceanographic Research Laboratory in Villefranche-sur-Mer introduced ‘MedAzur’, a new system specially designed to detect the presence of a jellyfish close to beaches.

It uses remote-controlled sensors on buoys and fishing nets to capture footage of the jellyfish, to register the time and place it appeared and how far it is from the shore. Once, it senses they are approaching the coast line, the areas affected will be closed down.

The device was originally designed to combat Pelagia noctiluca, one of the most dangerous jellyfish in the world that can be found in the Mediterranean sea and also in the waters around the UK. An encounter with this jellyfish is so lethal that an invasion of 'mauve stingers' (Pelagia noctiluca) wiped out Northern Ireland's only salmon farm in 2007, killing more than 100,000 fishes. And in 2008, paramedics on the Côte d'Azur were called out more than 500 times over the course of a single day because a cluster of Pelagia noctiluca had stung a large number of swimmers.

The main concern of the Oceanographic research team is the fact that “even after they have died these creatures floating in the sea remain poisonous for about three to four days.”

Gabriel Gorsky, head of the research centre, told the press that, “MedAzur will definitely prove to be effective and is currently the best jellyfish detection system in the world.”

According to Eric Ciotti, president of the Conseil Général des Alpes-Maritimes, “the jellyfish come into the area and dominate the coast lines, causing considerable damage to the region and to tourism.”

“We hope MedAzur will have a positive effect and that people will no longer need to site the jellyfish plague as a reason to not spend their holidays on the Côte d'Azur.”

The system has already passed its first test on a strip of sea between Nice and Eze-sur-Mer and it will be installed on all the beaches around the region by the end of 2012.

AA