No Fukushima contamination was found in any of the 7 fish Alaskan fish samples that were collected during February and March of 2016. The results, released on the Department of Environmental Conservation website, show that the herring, cod, and pollock sampled did not have any detectable levels of ¹³¹I, ¹³⁴Cs (the Fukushima fingerprint radionuclide with a half-life of ~2 years) or ¹³⁷Cs in the tissues.  These samples follow on their similar results from 2015 and are part of the network of institutions monitoring for Fukushima radiation in marine waters and seafoods.

InFORM sampling of BC salmon and steelhead is currently underway. We anticipate collecting >100 samples from fish returning to most major BC fisheries. Results will be made public as soon as possible.

Note: The average minimum detectable concentrations for these Alaskan samples on this gamma spectrometer were 8.8 Bq kg^-1, 2.1 Bq kg^-1, and 1.8 Bq kg^-1 respectively. For comparison, the intervention levels for ¹³¹I = 170 Bq kg^-1 and ¹³⁴Cs + ¹³⁷Cs = 1200 Bq kg^-1 according to the US Food and Drug Administration.