Thousands of dead jellyfish washed up on Kuakata beach in Patuakhali. For the past few days, these dead jellyfish have been seen at various points along the beach including the mouth of three rivers. Locals including tourists are very much annoyed by the putrid stench of dead jellyfish.
Fishermen said they have stopped fishing for the last two weeks due to the increase in the number of jellyfish in the sea. Mahipur fisherman Yasin Mia, a fisherman in the Bay of Bengal, said that a large number of jellyfish have grown in the sea for about a week. Even if the net is thrown, jellyfish are coming up instead of fish. We call them NONA (salty). If the NONA touched the skin, it causes various diseases including itching. So we have stopped fishing for now.
Hafez Miah, a resident of Kuakata's Lemburbon beach, said dead jellyfish were floating on the beach last year as well. But this year the amount is much higher. They float and start rotting. Then there is a lot of bad smell. Currently, there is a lot of stench of jellyfish floating on the sea shore.
Sagarika Smriti, Biodiversity Researcher of World Fish, said jellyfish is the main food of turtles. The number of jellyfish may increase as the number of turtles decreases in the sea or as temperatures increase with the decrease of oxygen in the deep ocean. Besides, there may be other reasons for the growth of jellyfish in the sea. However, the number of jellyfish may decrease in the next 15 days as oxygen increases and temperature decreases.
ZH
