Deadly jellyfish are likely to become more toxic according to scientists at the CSIRO. A new research program aims to map problems caused by Australia's jellyfish.

Huge jellyfish blooms are becoming a growing nuisance to industry and the environment according to CSIRO scientists at the Australian Coastal Councils Conference.

There are about 2,000 species of jellyfish worldwide, and about a third of those are found in Australian waters.

Humans know them for their sting.

The deadly Box jelly and the dangerous Irukandji jellyfish, found mostly in tropical waters, are the most renowned.

Scientists predict that as waters warm, they're likely to become more common in other parts of Australia, including the Gold Coast and New South Wales north coast, as waters warm.

But CSIRO Wealth from Oceans research scientist Lisa-Ann Gershwin says more research needs to be done around potentially deadly jellyfish becoming even more toxic.

She says this is more of an immediate problem than jellyfish migrating south from tropical waters.

"For a population to migrate, its whole habitat has to migrate with it, so we're talking some time.

"We do know that warmer water does trigger some species of Irukandji to be more active and more toxic.

"It's highly likely that smaller increase in temperature will trigger resident jellyfish to become more pesky, than to trigger far away jellyfish to migrate down."

Non-lethal jellyfish are also presenting a whole range of other global challenges.

The CSIRO is launching an interactive web page that tracks some of the many issues caused by jellyfish blooms; including the impact on tourism, shipping, fisheries and the ocean ecosystem.

"Non-lethal jellyfish, some of them bloom in huge numbers like you can't imagine," Dr Gershwin says.

"There's this whole other aspect of jellyfish that most people have never thought about."

These blooms cost industry millions of dollars each year.

They have caused failures in Brisbane and Melbourne power stations, shutting down trams.

In 2006 jellyfish were sucked into the intakes of the nuclear-powered USS Ronald Reagan in Brisbane during its maiden voyage.

One bloom of sea tomato jellyfish travelled from Broome in August 2012 to Exmouth in May 2013 in Western Australia.

"They were so huge you could see them from space," Dr Gershwin says.

Some jellyfish have hundreds of mouths.

Dr Gershwin says they eat everything in their path, from fish and crab eggs to larvae and plankton.

"In these sorts of numbers, the effect that they're having on the ecosystem is probably huge."

While she admits there is no long-term data to assess jellyfish numbers and impacts, she believes huge blooms are likely to be causing significant damage to fisheries and other marine life.

If ocean waters continue to warm, she believes this could become more of a national issue.

"Jellyfish blooms are a visible indicator that something is out of balance in the ocean...maybe warming water, or too much nutrients, or not enough oxygen, or a reduction in predators or competitors.

"As the ecosystem declines, there are winners and losers and jellyfish more often than not are those winners."

The new interactive map will allow citizens, councils and industry to add their own sightings.