Jellyfish sting ‘no more harmful than a bee’: An Post stamps to highlight a healthy marine ecosystem

An Post is releasing two new stamps detailing marine life around our coastlines and rivers.

Designed by Kildare-based, botanical illustrator and art tutor, Shevaun Doherty, ahead of World Ocean Day next Saturday, June 8th, the Europa stamps represent beautiful and important elements of Ireland’s underwater life.

The national stamp features Carrageen moss, a colourful fan-shaped algae found along the Irish coast that has been an important fertiliser and edible plant with medical properties for centuries.

The international stamp for posting worldwide details the compass jellyfish, a common species integral to local biodiversity. Harbouring young fish among its tentacles, it provides a vital food source for sea turtles and ocean sunfish.

An Post is calling on the public to support its Beach and Waterways Clean-Up Day as two beautiful new marine life stamps will be issued on June 6th.

Inland waters including streams, rivers, floodplains, lakes and swamps are home to around 100,000 animals and plants, with more than 33,000 aquatic species living in the seas around Europe.

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Next month’s clean-up day is supported by waste company Panda, who will place 1100 litre industrial bins at eight locations around the country.

Several conservation and biodiversity organisations and experts have weighed in on the initiative including young marine environmentalist, Flossie Donnelly from Flossie and the Beach Cleaners, restaurateur and sustainability advocate, JP McMahon, and biologist, environmentalist, author and educator, Éanna Ní Lamhna, and An Post employee Francesco De Marchis from Balbriggan DSU with his 11-year-old son, Nico De Marchis.

Nicola Woods, Chief Transformation Officer with An Post explained that the stamps and the clean-up day “brings to life our purpose of acting for the common good and improving the quality of life in Ireland, now and for generations to come.”

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Panda will place the bins at the following locations; in Athlone at Lough Ree (Lake), Donegal’s Rathmullan Beach, Dublin’s Portmarnock Beach, Garretstown Beach in Kinsale, Banna Beach in Kerry, Rosslare Strand in Wexford, Sligo’s Enniscrone and Clogher Head in Co Louth.

“Despite their bad rap, jellyfish and seaweed are in fact a sign of a healthy marine ecosystem,” comments stamp designer, Shevaun Doherty.

“Yes, they can sting, but the majority of these stings are mild and no more harmful than a bee sting,” she added.