back to article Huge jellyfish pack slaughters 100,000 salmon

An overwhelming attack by billions of jellyfish has wiped out the entire stock of Northern Ireland's only salmon farm - some 100,000 fish worth £2m, AP reports. The "dense pack" of mauve stingers, covering ten square miles to a depth of 35 feet*, last week swamped the two net pens holding the salmon about a mile off the coast …

COMMENTS

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  1. Andy Wilkins
    IT Angle

    Since you asked

    33.94 cubic furlongs

  2. GrahamT
    Boffin

    Cubic furlongs

    OK, you asked; that is about 34 cubic furlongs

    (1sq mile = 8 x 8 = 64 sq furlongs

    35 feet = 35/660 furlongs,

    so 10 sq miles x 35 ft = 640 x .05303 = 33.93939 cubic furlongs)

    I'll let someone else convert that to Olympic sized swimming pools - Ossps

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Thank you Google Calculator

    33.939394 cubic furlongs apparently.

  4. Jonathan Richards
    Boffin

    Cubic furlongs

    Just short of 3.4, since you ask.

  5. Daniel Hutty
    Dead Vulture

    Some people have too much time on their hands...

    (Title says it all...)

  6. Gaius

    I for one...

    ... welcome our new gelatinous overlords.

  7. James Le Cuirot

    Salmon's off. Jellyfish anyone?

    Anyone know if they're edible?

  8. Mike

    It's about.....

    4.75 cubic furlongs....

    ....I think

  9. JP
    Thumb Up

    One of my favourites...

    As you were asking, James.

    http://www.seasabres.com/%5Crecipes%5CMisc%5Cjellyfishrecipe.htm

    "Prepared" normally means dried.

    Mmmm...

  10. cor
    Pirate

    Jelly Purple v Salmon Pink

    Send in the crabs!!

    http://www.westmeade.net/Library/jellyfish.htm#Crab

  11. Tom

    Anyone know if they're edible?

    Just convence the Chinese that they work better then Tiger piss. That should take care of the problem in short order.

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    @ James Le Cuirot

    I dont know if those ones are edible, but there was a swarm of jelly fish in blackpool around 11 years ago when i was there and a kid, and we fried one of them with butter and tried to eat it. it was disgustingly bitter but we didnt die or become ill or anything.

    other kids brought a bag full of them into an indoor swimming pool and started throwing them around. oh fun days.

  13. Tawakalna
    Paris Hilton

    and the IT or Paris Hilton angles are?

    non-existent, so what's the point of this story?

    erm hang on..

    Jellyfish sting, that's *sort of* like an electric shock, or feels like it anyway; jellyfish tasers!

  14. Anonymous John
    Paris Hilton

    35 feet

    6.087 Paris Hiltons laid end to end. Not that I want to lay her.

  15. SpitefulGOD
    Gates Halo

    SO.

    "now faces closure if it doesn't get emergency government aid"

    The fact that this skingy irish tit didn't have some form of insurance doesn't mean I'm gonna pay for his mistakes, sink his company, no government aid.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Units

    This is obviously a problem in several news reports.

    Has no-one written a downloadable program to convert obsolete units to the new, improved Reg units ?

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    Title

    "Northern Salmon Co...now faces closure if it doesn't get emergency government aid"

    Huh? Don't they insure their livestock against predators/storms/disease? It's not like the Govt ordered them culled...

  18. Risky
    Go

    Government

    They could have helped. I think Gordo might have some ministers he wouldn't mind droping into a pool of jellyfish....

  19. James Delaney

    Fences

    Well, if you're going to keep 100,000 fish in a nice little pen in the ocean, you should surely expect something like this *might* happen.

    Jellyfish 1: Hmmm, I'm hungry. What's that? It looks like a huge, organised supply of food being kept over there for us. What do you think?

    Jellyfish 2: I think we should leave it alone mate, it wouldn't be fair on the poor guys in charge of that.

    Jellyfish 1: Shut up gimp. Let's go.

  20. Andy G
    Dead Vulture

    How excactly

    ... did the jellyfish get in without the salmon getting out ?

    Mutant Purple Ninja Jellyfish ??

    hmmmm..

  21. Alex Cooksey

    ah well never mind...

    ""Northern Salmon Co...now faces closure if it doesn't get emergency government aid"

    Huh? Don't they insure their livestock against predators/storms/disease? It's not like the Govt ordered them culled..."

    Spot on - but they needn't worry - Alistair Darling is chancellor and can be relied on to bail pretty much anyone out. Gord alone knows what his laissez faire attidude will do to the budget next time round. Thanks goodness the hospital trusts seem to have their houses in order finally.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Uh...

    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=10+square+miles+times+35+feet+in+cubic+furlongs

    I know the Reg like to hate on Google but...

  23. Rob Crawford
    Flame

    Geography not a strong point then.

    Northern Ireland tends to mean British not Irish (your experience of the world dosn't go much further than blogs does it?). No wonder some people don't want to be part of UK !

    Most likely the the insurers will claim it's an act of god as those jellyfish don't naturally occur in such frosty climes.

    If the goverment can pay out to greedy bastards (in england) that cause animal health issues by shipping animals between each other and claiming grants for animals they only owned while being transported (and spreading foot & mouth far and wide).

    How about payouts regarding BSE cos they fed their animals (cheap) feed containing sheep brains (and also dried human sewage). BTW no BSE cases in Northern or Southern ireland because of stronger regulations & tracking of livestock

    An organic farmer (well thats the phrase the media are using) being hit by such unforseen circumstances is a little more deserving, than the factory farmers that bring such problems on their own heads by their cheap arsed negliance.

    Ditch your blogs and have a look at the real world.

  24. Luther Blissett

    Mercy killing

    The jellyfish were on a mission to save the salmon from their Guantanamo cages and the sea lice infestations which drive them crazy when the bright lights don't. I gave up eating farmed salmon years ago.

    But deep fried dried gelatinous overlord is rather appealing, marinaded in chili and spring onions (probably about 2 weeks) and coated in a temura batter. My middle name's not Nigel for nothing. And when I have had enough of that, there's giant jellyfish eating giant crab overlord to look forward to. Damn, how I love barbecued overlords. 100% natural. Totally organic. Until they start injecting them with nano-tech. Then I'll have to get my protein from DNA. Still, there are some tasty gene overlord specimens out there. Hi Richard.

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @Luther Blissett

    Eh?

    Eh?

    Midway trough your post I was like "wait, this is an Amanfrommars post", then I looked at the author and was like "Eh? Not? Wth?"

  26. Mark

    Drit net fishing

    I'd rather the goverment aid was spent on preventing Irish drift net fishing which is doing wild stocks of Salmon no good.

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    IT Angler

    Sorry

  28. Michael Fletcher

    Killer Jellyfish

    I am wondering if these killer jellyfish had frickin' laser beams attached to their heads...

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Heart

    Cubic furlongs? Bah.

    Cubic furlongs is no fun.

    The impressive measurement is that we're talking about *28,497,920,000 cubic cubits.*

  30. Daniel B.

    Jellyfish ...

    Ow. I'd rather not swim in those waters, then.

    Back in '95, I had a close encounter with a jellyfish while swimming on the Gulf of Mexico. OW! OW! OW! Its this kind of feeling you just touched a red-hot electric wire ... 'coz it burned and felt like an electric shock! And that was only a tentacle. (Or whatever that stringy things are called.)

    Still, I'd think the cages would be jellyfish-proof...

  31. Aubry Thonon

    Proper Measurements

    Forget cubic furlongs, we are talking about 110,393 olympic swimming pools.

  32. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Bootnote

    But what is it in cubic Smoots?

    What is a cubic Smoot anyway? Smootic perhaps?

    I will get my coat now.

  33. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    What kind of miles?

    10 square miles times 35 feet = 33.9393939 cubic furlongs

    10 square nautical miles times 35 feet = 44.9457133 cubic furlongs

    This is why Google Calculator is still no substitute for knowing stuff.

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