The Great Florence Oregon Jelly Fish Die Off Of 2010

Unthinkable amounts of jelly fish lay upon the shore. They were dead or dying as far as the eye could see. In some places there were so many they were side by side and went right out of sight. There were also a few starfish but not many. Further down the beach were dead or dying sea birds. They seemed to be where the jelly fish were not so thick. Strewn about was also a lot of kelp, but the jellyfish, wow, you would not have thought there could be so many.

"The smell of perhaps an inch deep of of dead jelly fish as far as the eye could see was something to remember. "

Threaded throughout the jelly fish and trailing along the beach were bands of what was likely dead brownish algae.

News stories were saying there had been a starfish die off just a week or less ago at Heceta Beach. Before that Diatoms blooms on the Oregon coast.

We Should all do more for life on the planet...

We took a number of images of the jelly fish die off on November 2 2010. The scale of how many jelly fish were dead and dying was hard to really capture in photos. In places they were continuous for for long stretches and other places they were a bit more spread out. It was very hard to walk down to the ocean as they are slick and they went on and on. The birds are thought to be Northern Fulmar and the jelly fish are thought to be Lions Mane.

1Central Oregon Coast Florence Heceta Beach near Driftwood Shores.

2Diatoms blooms then a star fish die off then a jelly fish die off.

3Very localized area for the Star fish die off and possibly the jelly fish. Many birds were also dying.

4Localized currents can be seen by date Surface Current Maps near Newport Oregon.