RADIOACTIVE BLUEFIN TUNA CROSS PACIFIC

[Basil D]

http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/13803576/radioactive-bluefin-tuna-cross-pacific/

Disgraceful and unfortunate event, wow I don't think I will eat tuna for a while.

Across the vast Pacific, the mighty bluefin tuna carried radioactive contamination that leaked from Japan's crippled nuclear plant to the shores of the United States, almost 10,000 kilometres away - the first time a huge migrating fish has been shown to carry radioactivity such a distance.

"We were frankly kind of startled," said Nicholas Fisher, one of the researchers reporting the findings online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The levels of radioactive cesium were 10 times higher than the amount measured in tuna off the California coast in previous years. But even so, that's still far below safe-to-eat limits set by the US and Japanese governments.

Previously, smaller fish and plankton were found with elevated levels of radiation in Japanese waters after a magnitude-nine earthquake in March 2011 triggered a tsunami that badly damaged the Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors.

But scientists did not expect the fallout to linger in huge fish that sail the world as they can shed radioactive substances.

One of the largest and speediest fish, Pacific bluefin tuna can grow to three metres and weigh more than 450kg. They spawn off Japan's coast and swim east to school in waters off California and Mexico.

Five months after the Fukushima disaster, Fisher of Stony Brook University in New York and a team tested Pacific bluefin caught off the coast of San Diego.

Tissue samples from all 15 tuna contained levels of radioactive ceisum-134 and cesium-137 higher than in previous catches.

The team also analysed yellowfin tuna, found in the eastern Pacific, and bluefin that migrated to southern California before the crisis. They found no trace of cesium-134 and only background levels of cesium-137 left over from nuclear weapons testing in the 1960s.

The results "are unequivocal. Fukushima was the source," said Ken Buesseler of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which had no role in the research.

Edited May 28, 2012 by Groper

[fishmaniac]

The southern stocks of tuna which are not swimming in contaminated waters would be fine mate.

It is a shame that yet another nuclear catastrophy was the result of human error. Scientists are aware of the potential threats when things go wrong yet the government chooses to go and build their reactor plant on the pacific ring of fire in an area which could be hit by a tsunami.

Usual government crap of saving costs. If they spent more money by either designing the plant to withstand greater lateral forces OR build the thing on higher ground and payed the extra to run some piping up to the plant this would not have happened.

P.S. Groper, the half life of cesium is around 30 years so we'll all be waiting along time if we need to wait for things to return to their original levels

Edited May 29, 2012 by fishmaniac

[Basil D]

The southern stocks of tuna which are not swimming in contaminated waters would be fine mate.

It is a shame that yet another nuclear catastrophy was the result of human error. Scientists are aware of the potential threats when things go wrong yet the government chooses to go and build their reactor plant on the pacific ring of fire in an area which could be hit by a tsunami.

Usual government crap of saving costs. If they spent more money by either designing the plant to withstand greater lateral forces OR build the thing on higher ground and payed the extra to run some piping up to the plant this would not have happened.

P.S. Groper, the half life of cesium is around 30 years so we'll all be waiting along time if we need to wait for things to return to their original levels

Im really worried about the caned stuff my boys eat that by the bucket loads.

[fishmaniac]

Im really worried about the caned stuff my boys eat that by the bucket loads.

Get them into some protein shakes to supplement their protein intake

[Basil D]

Get them into some protein shakes to supplement their protein intake

as they say, its only a supplement not the real food

[f1shen]

http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/13803576/radioactive-bluefin-tuna-cross-pacific/

Disgraceful and unfortunate event, wow I don't think I will eat tuna for a while.

Across the vast Pacific, the mighty bluefin tuna carried radioactive contamination that leaked from Japan's crippled nuclear plant to the shores of the United States, almost 10,000 kilometres away - the first time a huge migrating fish has been shown to carry radioactivity such a distance.

"We were frankly kind of startled," said Nicholas Fisher, one of the researchers reporting the findings online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The levels of radioactive cesium were 10 times higher than the amount measured in tuna off the California coast in previous years. But even so, that's still far below safe-to-eat limits set by the US and Japanese governments.

Previously, smaller fish and plankton were found with elevated levels of radiation in Japanese waters after a magnitude-nine earthquake in March 2011 triggered a tsunami that badly damaged the Fukushima Dai-ichi reactors.

But scientists did not expect the fallout to linger in huge fish that sail the world as they can shed radioactive substances.

One of the largest and speediest fish, Pacific bluefin tuna can grow to three metres and weigh more than 450kg. They spawn off Japan's coast and swim east to school in waters off California and Mexico.

Five months after the Fukushima disaster, Fisher of Stony Brook University in New York and a team tested Pacific bluefin caught off the coast of San Diego.

Tissue samples from all 15 tuna contained levels of radioactive ceisum-134 and cesium-137 higher than in previous catches.

The team also analysed yellowfin tuna, found in the eastern Pacific, and bluefin that migrated to southern California before the crisis. They found no trace of cesium-134 and only background levels of cesium-137 left over from nuclear weapons testing in the 1960s.

The results "are unequivocal. Fukushima was the source," said Ken Buesseler of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, which had no role in the research.

This pic has been doing the rounds.

It's a bit suspect as there's no legend as to what levels of radioactivity the colours are showing, but it's certainly food for thought. Apex predators like tuna and shark will necessarily be more radioactive as they have to consumed masses of already radioactive fish.

[Basil D]

This pic has been doing the rounds.

It's a bit suspect as there's no legend as to what levels of radioactivity the colours are showing, but it's certainly food for thought. Apex predators like tuna and shark will necessarily be more radioactive as they have to consumed masses of already radioactive fish.

Thit photo is really scary.

[fishmaniac]

This pic has been doing the rounds.

It's a bit suspect as there's no legend as to what levels of radioactivity the colours are showing, but it's certainly food for thought. Apex predators like tuna and shark will necessarily be more radioactive as they have to consumed masses of already radioactive fish.

Although the half life of cesium is 30 years in the environment, its biological half life is only 70 days. So the effects of the bioaccumulation of radioactive cesium in apex predators is relatively low when you consider this fact.

As cesium undergoes radioactive decay it becomes barium (no need to go into the details of this unless asked for). Barium is a heavy metal that will bioaccumulate and is certainly not good for you. This is arguably of greater concern.

One thing to keep in mind is that these levels of radiation are still well within tolerable levels as outlined by the US and Japanese markets. We are constantly exposed to radiation at an increasing rate in our daily lives from basically anything that is electronic. Of course the type of radiation we are exposed to and the intensity is different between cesium and such electronic sources.

[borgie_29]

So how long will it take them to pull out a Tuna that's glowing??

[tunastrike]

thats a good thing they might get left onlone for a while