No, not my next predicted World Cup semi finalists, but four countries (well I'm in Gozo this weekend writing this and Gozo not only feels like its own separate electoral district, but very much a country far away from Malta right now) which are currently being cursed by jellyfish, according to news reports.

And locally the jellyfish invasion this summer threatens to be even worse than the last. Some of us haven't even swum yet, simply because every time we've been down to the beach, we've been told there are jellyfish, and have simply refrained from swimming altogether. I can't imagine what tourists, who spend their hard earned cash to come to Malta, Gozo and Comino must think when they can't get into the water because so many jellyfish are around.

And there are plagues of them almost wherever you go. We are not alone though. According to The Daily Mail last Friday "Huge swarms of jellyfish, some of them poisonous – have been spotted around Britain's coast as sea temperatures rise... they include the Lion's Mane jellyfish, the species with the most painful sting in UK waters".

And the cause? "The increase in jellyfish numbers has been blamed on a decline in their main predator, the giant Leatherback turtle. These have become entangled in fishing nets and lobster pots or killed by rubbish dumped at sea."

The picture around the Namibian coast is apparently even more serious. There has been so much severe over fishing in the last 20 to 30 years, that a study was commissioned to ascertain the extent of the damage to the fish stock.

The results are nothing short of alarming, and should serve as a loud warning bell to those of us who live off, and are indirectly or directly affected by our tourist industry, our fishing and catering industries and much more.

The essential finding of this serious and comprehensive study is that "jellyfish have actually overtaken fish in terms of the biomass they contribute to this ocean region. By using scientific echo sounders and trawl nets to sample jellyfish and fish in an area of over 30,000 nautical miles – the researchers estimate the total biomass of jellyfish in the region to be 12.2 million metric tons (no, there is no error here!), whereas the biomass of fish accounts for only 3.6 million metric tonnes.

And there is a similar picture world wide, which the scientists think is mainly because of over fishing, though climatic changes could also be contributing to the shift in jellyfish populations to different waters.

It's very hard to imagine a Malta, a Gozo, or even a Comino where swimming is either not possible at all, or not at all possible to do in a relaxed way, as is already alarmingly the case now. Perhaps we are particularly fortunate to have Joe Borg as a Commissioner in charge of fisheries to commission similar studies in the Med and elsewhere.

After all, for most ordinary families going down to the beach was one of the simple affordable beauties of living here. Now its hard enough thanks to all the beach concessions taking more and more public areas, you have to watch out for all the debris from the previous night's barbeques and other debris left by a nation which is still in dirtying its own back garden mode. At least you could relax when you were in the water, but even this joy is leaving us, thanks to these jellyfish who are jinxing our waters.

Chugging around Comino and Gozo in the simplest of little boats this weekend really brings our life into nautical focus and how very important the sea, clean and safe to swim in, teeming with fish should be to us. Though we may have taken it for granted for too long, and not looked after it as well as we should. Even in an amazing little inlet hidden away on the side of Comino (and which thankfully only small boats can enter) we found a few stray jellyfish. And like it or not, it prevents you from really enjoying the water, diving down into it, because a jellyfish sting to the face underwater is as nasty as nasty can be.

Then you chug around Gozo towards Mgarr ix Xini from Mgarr and you have to endure the over pervasive stink of drainage, with people actually swimming in it. Surely the area should be policed to stop such lunacy. We saw a family swimming there. Perhaps the wind direction prevented them from smelling what they were swimming in, but it really was a shocking sight and smell.

The cove at Mgarr ix Xini seemed jellyfish free, but there the amazing landscape and a great bar, barman's family and more make you not only feel you've left Malta but you are on a totally different planet altogether.

We need to tackle this jellyfishitis though. We shouldn't leave it till its almost too late, as it is off Namibia, who will find it very hard to replete their fish stocks.

We need to find or cultivate a fish to eat them, or may be even a dish that would make them edible for us, but seriously, it is getting worse every summer, and it is not a problem we can just leave and hope it goes away.

Prior to EU membership we were scared of foreign Sicilians taking our work, now we're obsessed and worried by boatloads of immigrants.

When we had all the tuna and other fish farms we were worried about sharks, but now we are plagued by jellyfish instead! Malta is having a hard enough time getting tourists here. We don't want the tag of jellyfish island to put off even more tourists than are already put off by our building mania, our lack of care, cleanliness, courtesy and sense of community which is so unappealing and is certainly not the fault of one Minister.

We can re-brand Malta to our hearts' content. More swarms of jellyfish will undo and literally unravel all the expense, time and effort that went into re-branding overnight, just like the jellyfish who according to the fantastic Discovery kids website have been around for a mere 650 million years, it appears have now ruined our waters almost overnight too.

When 20 years changes a population that's been around without bothering us to much for so many millions we really should stop, think and take action. They may have no head, brain or heart, but jellyfish can literally ruin half the year for us, and destroy our tourist economy too. Not bad for a brainless non fish!