Tuesday,
March 22, 2011
Below is
from a New York Times interactive map (which is pretty cool)
showing how weather patterns might disperse radiation from Fukushima, Japan. It
was a forecast from March 16, not actual readings. It does not include
additional radiation that was released earlier this week from explosions,
fires, and controlled releases.
This is a map of wild salmon migration routes in the middle and north Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Alaska.
And a bit of data this morning from Toyota Electic Power Company which runs the nuclear power plant:
This is a map of wild salmon migration routes in the middle and north Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Alaska.
And a bit of data this morning from Toyota Electic Power Company which runs the nuclear power plant:
"Tokyo
Electric said radioactive iodine about 127 times normal levels and radioactive
cesium about 25 times above the norm were detected in seawater 100 meters
(yards) off the Fukushima nuclear plant."
- Power Lines Up In Progress At Japan Nuclear Plant, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 21, 2011
- Power Lines Up In Progress At Japan Nuclear Plant, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 21, 2011
There are a
lot of variables here, things I don't understand like water currents, weather
patterns, migration seasons. And certainly a lot of other sea creatures and
plants will be affected. I thought of salmon because I read recently that the
industry is what keeps many Alaska natives from sinking below the poverty line
(from Four Fish by Paul Greenberg). It does appear, from this circumstantial
and elemental data, that the industry could be affected.
Update, March 26, 2011: Are Alaska Fisheries At Risk? Radiation in seawater spikes to 1,250 times normal.
Update, March 31, 2011: CNN, Radiation in seawater spikes to 4,385 times regulatory limit.
Update, April 5, 2011: LATimes, Japan's ocean radiation hits 7.5 million times legal limit.
Update, March 26, 2011: Are Alaska Fisheries At Risk? Radiation in seawater spikes to 1,250 times normal.
Update, March 31, 2011: CNN, Radiation in seawater spikes to 4,385 times regulatory limit.
Update, April 5, 2011: LATimes, Japan's ocean radiation hits 7.5 million times legal limit.
________
Map of
salmon migration from GoldSeal.
"The confirmed death toll from the earthquake and tsunami has risen to 9,408, and more than 14,700 people are listed as missing. An estimated half a million people have been made homeless." Also, radiation has affected Tokyo's water supply and is "unfit for babies to drink." -BBC, March 23
"The confirmed death toll from the earthquake and tsunami has risen to 9,408, and more than 14,700 people are listed as missing. An estimated half a million people have been made homeless." Also, radiation has affected Tokyo's water supply and is "unfit for babies to drink." -BBC, March 23
Bix said...
I was not
thinking of salmon being affected directly. I was thinking that the seafood
they eat, and the seafood and sea plants they in turn eat, may contain isotopes
that would concentrate as they move up the food chain. Or that the seafood
salmon eat may themselves be reduced in number, lowering the number of salmon
returning to spawn.
It may well be that the solvent (the ocean) is large enough to dilute these particles to harmless levels.
It may well be that the solvent (the ocean) is large enough to dilute these particles to harmless levels.
Harmless,
are you kidding? Fish is the wild west of food. The government isn't going to
tell us if salmon is genetically modified, you think they'll tell us if it's contaminated
with radiation? "It's just a little." A little mercury, a little
radiation, a little PCBs. No, instead they tell us "Eat fish! It's good
for you!"
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