Tag Archives: Mussels

Biota, Monitoring

2016 Biotic Monitoring Results: No Fukushima Contamination Detected in Salmon or Shellfish

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Full results from 2016 InFORM salmon monitoring representing samples from 123 fish.
Results from 2016 InFORM salmon monitoring representing samples from 123 fish. Oceanic monitoring data were collected in 2015. Migration routes of various fish species are indicated with dashed lines.

More results from InFORM’s 2016 biotic monitoring results are now available and reveal that Fukushima contamination was not detected in sampled BC salmon after initial testing. These results are an update to the earlier report on the first 20 of the 123 fish donated by First Nations from 10 rivers in British Columbia and Yukon in 2016. Nine fish did have individual levels of 137Cs detected near the minimum detectable concentration (MDC). These levels (<0.7 Bq kg-1) are not known to present a significant health risk and are ~1,400x lower than the national and international action level (1000 Bq kg-1). For perspective, you would need to consume 1000-1500 kg of salmon at this concentration of cesium to receive the same radiation dose acquired during a single cross country flight. There has not been a significant increase to the total 137Cs concentration in BC salmon since InFORM monitoring began in 2014.

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Biota

Sea Star Loss From Our Coast Might Be Mussels Gain

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By Jay T. Cullen

Note that the video above was shot on May 8, 2015, set to Debussy’s Clair de Lune, by the YouTube user NorthOlbo who makes wonderful pieces about the British Columbian coast. Check him out.

The purpose of this more visual post is to report on a recent trip my students and I took to a local beach and what we saw there. Botanical Beach is renowned for its tide pools and part of the Juan de Fuca Provincial Park here on the southwest coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia Canada. There are strange conditions currently in the northeast Pacific from the “blob” of warm water related to anomalous winter mixing in 2013-2014 to the widespread disappearance of sea stars owing to wasting disease after infection by virus. Some link these changes in the marine ecosystem to the very low levels of Fukushima derived radioisotope contamination present offshore and recently detected at the shoreline although there is little evidence to support such views nor are such impacts very likely. There is indeed life abundant at Botanical Beach but it is changing. The sea star is a keystone predator whose removal has consequences. The most obvious of these on visiting the beach again was the predominance of California mussels to be found. More about our adventure below the fold. Continue reading Sea Star Loss From Our Coast Might Be Mussels Gain →

Cesium, FAQ, Marine Life, Peer Reviewed, Polonium, Strontium

What Controls Levels of Fukushima Radioisotopes in Marine Organisms?

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By Jay T. Cullen

This post is part of an ongoing effort to communicate the risks to people living on the west coast of North America resulting from the ongoing release of radionuclides from the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant after the Tohoku earthquake and subsequent triple reactor meltdowns in March 2011. The purpose of this post is to explain how the concentration of radionuclides in seawater impacts the amount of radioactive elements taken up by the marine biota.

The goal is to answer questions like:

How high can we expect radioactive element concentrations to get in marine organisms?

What might be the exposure of marine organisms and human consumers of these organisms to Fukushima sourced radionuclides?

Continue reading What Controls Levels of Fukushima Radioisotopes in Marine Organisms? →