Georgia Jellyfish now served up in Asia

A net full of SE jellyfish soon to be processed for Asia

A trawler deck full of jellyballs 

What started as an experimental fishery has now grown into the third largest volume export for Georgia behind more familiar foods like crab and shrimp. The harvest of cannonball jellyfish extends the working season for commercial trawlers, provided they use modified nets and possess a letter of authorization from the Georgia DNR. Prized for their texture and bland flavor, the jellyfish exports to Asia bring economic promise to a surprising U.S. fishery. There’s nothing like a peanut better and jellyfish sandwich, right? Well not exactly. Different types of jellyfish have been harvested for human consumption in Asia for hundreds of years. Jellyfish are not utilized as a main course, but rather they are popular as condiments, a cooking ingredient or perhaps as a special topping. As populations in Asia increased in the 1990’s, so did their interest in foreign markets for jellyfish. Jim Page is the biologist who oversees the jellyfish fishery for the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. “The initial cannonball jellyfish harvest came from Florida, and since they were well received in Asia, we opened an experimental season in 1998. Since then we have had five to eight trawlers participate each season in an experimental phase through 2012. Then in 2013 with some Title 27 revisions in Georgia state law, the jellyfish harvest became an official fishery.” Of course it will take time for the slow-to-change Southern culture to embrace jellyfish harvest in other states where they are also plentiful. Locales where cannonball jellyfish are known as ok to handle since they don’t sting, and where recreational fishermen utilize their flesh as bait to entice finicky spadefish to bite. With demand for jellyfish from Asian markets increasing, it puts a new focus on the natural resources of the Southeast.

Typical size of Cannonball jellyfish

To view my feature article on the Georgia jellyfishery click All At Sea.

To view past blog entries about trawling the SE ocean click here.

September Issue Cover