Expert urges for more funding into jellyfish in Whitsundays region

A jellyfish expert is urging the state government to take immediate action claiming the painful death of a teen boy by a box jellyfish last February could have been avoided.

Dr Jamie Seymour, with the larger box jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri) and a small Irukandji-type jellyfish.

As summer in the Whitsundays heats up, an expert on venomous Australian animals says a lack of funding for research into poisonous jellyfish in the region has resulted in unnecessary death.

Dubbed the ‘Jelly Dude from Nemo land’, Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine Cairns Professor Jamie Seymour said Whitsunday Tourism needed to provide adequate information about the dangers of jellyfish to government bodies.

“[Whitsunday] Tourism don’t want to tell everyone they have a jellyfish problem because people won’t get in the water,” Mr Seymour said.

“And then the federal government comes back and says, “Well, Tourism tells us there is no problem so there mustn’t be a problem.

“And as a result we just can’t get funding,” he said.

Irukandji are known for their small size and highly venous sting.

Mr Seymour said understanding the link between jellyfish and their environment was critical for species management.

Irukandji are known for their small size and highly venous sting, which often leads to hospitalisation and can be fatal.

A recent Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine study reported the annual occurrence of this organism is believed to cost the Australian government an estimated $3 billion a year in medical costs and losses for tourism.

Despite its economic importance the logistic difficulties related to surveying jellyfish in situ has led to a paucity of knowledge regarding its ecology and significantly impeded management strategies to date.

“We have been working on box jellyfish and Irukadji in Cairns for close on 25 – 30 years and we pretty much have it under control up here,” Mr Seymour said.

“We honestly don’t have a good handle on what goes on in the Whitsundays because there is no research carried out there.”

Whitehaven Island in the Whitsunday Islands National Park. Picture: Katrina Lezaic

Mr Seymour believes funding for adequate research in the Whitsundays would have prevented the death of fourteen year old Mark Ligmayo who died hours after collapsing on the sand with his legs covered in deadly box jellyfish tentacles on Eimeo Beach in Mackay in February this year.

“By and large, the Whitsundays have gone with the approach that the animals are out there and we don’t have to do anything about it and that’s not terribly helpful,” Mr Seymour said.

“The death in Mackay in February should never have happened.”

The tragedy resulted in a new push to force the Queensland government to better protect the public from jellyfish stingers with Mackay Regional Council calling for a state-funded stinger management plan and Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson saying more research and education would form the heart of the plan.

Mackay Mayor Greg Williamson and Mark Ligmayo. Picture: Contributed

“There is a lot that the public don’t know about,” Mr Williamson said in February.

With crocodile research and shark research funding provided for the Whitsundays, Mr Seymour said jellyfish stung more people than both those species combined.

“We’ve suggested on numerous occasions that there should be research done down there but we can’t get anyone to fund really basic things like what species are present, how long do they live for, where do they come from, when does the season start,” he said.

“So the Whitsundays area just don’t know.”

Originally published as Expert urges for more funding into jellyfish in Whitsundays region