jmc

The two large semicircles together make a circle of radius 5, which has area $25\pi$. The two small circles together make a circle with radius 3, which has area $9\pi$. Therefore, the ratio of the large semicircles' area to the small semicircles' area is $\frac{25\pi }{9\pi }=\frac{25}{9}\approx 2.78$. Since the large semicircles have area 2.78 times the small semicircles, the large semicircles' area is $278\%$ of the small semicircles' area, which is an increase of $278\%-100\%=\boxed{178\%}$ over the small semicircles' area.