Atomic Tuna!

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

Atomic Tuna?

Is there such a thing as atomic tuna?There has been some fallout from the tsunami that struck Japan on March 11,2011.There have been some Blue Fin Tuna caught off the coast of California last fall that were shown to have at least ten times the amount of normal radiation.Huh?You mean there are acceptable levels of radiation?That’s news to me!

The man-made radioactive isotopes cesium-134 and cesium-137(created by nuclear fission of the element cesium) have been reported in about forty percent of the bottom feeders in the area around the Fukishama power plant.Those fish have had up to 250 times the allowable amount of radiation.In October of last year,the owner,TEPCO(Tokyo Electric Power Company)admitted that not all the leaks at the plant had been fully stopped.

How Will This Impact Other Countries?

This could be disastrous for the future of not only Japan,but could also impact the countries that receive imports from Japan.It is also spreading to fish that migrate to and from the waters near Japan,such as tuna and salmon.

There do not seem to be any official agencies monitoring the situation.That may be okay,maybe not.Most of the tuna eaten by Americans is normally farmed fish.There are other fish such as cod,salmon,and halibut that are not farmed,and may be contaminated.

Apparently,Japan’s Fisheries Agency data is a very comprehensive source of what kind of impact that the catastrophe could have on the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The radiation level should have been dissipating over time,as we were told by governments and scientists.It appears that this is not so.The radiation levels seem to be elevated more in 2012 than in 2011.I suppose that is logical,since the more time goes by,more and more species will have been exposed to the contaminated water,which is slowly being carried eastward by the ocean currents.

Neither American or Canadian officials seem to be concerned with the problems arising from the disaster-struck power plant.

This could be a problem for decades.There are reports that show it will take ten years just to extract the destroyed fuel rods from the plant,and forty years to de-commission the plant.And that is assuming that they don’t experience another disaster before then!

How Will Affect Blue Fin Tuna?

Ironically,this disaster may serve as catalyst to save blue fin tuna.Even though it is not on the endangered species list,it is reported to be categorized as a “species of concern”.This particular species has been severely over-fished in the last several decades,with numbers dropping approximately 80% in the last forty years.

The US has petitioned to protect the blue fin in the past,but was blocked by Japan.Blue fin is greatly popular with sushi lovers worldwide.Since the catastrophe,maybe the reports of radiation in the fish will dissuade people from eating it.

Scientist say that blue fin tuna have natural levels of radioactivity,and that the amount absorbed from them eating contaminated fish is next to negligible.So even though a government petition didn’t prove to stop or at least slow the harvesting of blue fin,maybe bad press will.

Feel free to leave a comment.I would appreciate some feedback.

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Until tommorow

Benjamin