Let’s start our week and summer with good news on the health of our oceans, four years on from the damaged caused by the Tōhoku earthquake and resulting tsunami on the Fukushima nuclear power plant. We researched the latest on the topic because we want our members to know that the Canadian West Coast and Alaska are safe from any danger!
As there were voices predicting that isotopes from the Fukushima meltdown three years ago will reach North America in 2014, in February of this year the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada has taken measurements along the coast up to 1,500 km west of Vancouver for cesium 134 and 137. Early results bring good news. Eight samples are already in, exclusively showing isotopes from natural sources, or nuclear weapons testing from decades ago. From the available models and data, levels of Cesium are well below levels considered safe to drink. Scientists do not believe radiation from Fukushima will cross the ocean in anything more than trace amounts.
When we don’t know what is happening fear steps in and accumulates, because all we can do is speculate all sorts of scenarios. For this reason we want our members to be informed. For instance, you might wonder, just like we have, what is cesium 134 or 137? They are products of nuclear fission which did not exist on Earth before us humans. But when we started blowing up nuclear bombs, detectable, but safe, levels of Cesium 134 and 137 appeared in all the world oceans.
With just one day before the 2014 fishing season opens on our West Coast we are happy to say that radiation potentially reaching the West Coast will not be dangerous! Even within 300 km of Fukushima, the additional radiation that was introduced by the Cesium-137 fallout is still well below the background radiation levels from naturally occurring radioisotopes. By the time those radioactive atoms make their way to the West Coast it will be even more diluted and therefore not dangerous at all.
According to researchers, it’s not even dangerous to swim off the coast of Fukushima! They figured out how much radiation damage you would get if you doggie paddled aroud Fukushima. It was less than 0.03% of the daily radiation an average Japanese resident receives! The radiation was so small even immediately after the accident scientists did not wear any special equipment to handle the seawater samples (but they did wear detectors just in case). If you want danger, you’re better off licking the dial on an old-school glow in the dark watch.
The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Woods Hole, Mass. will continue to monitor the coast, so that people can have confidence that the waters are safe. On this note, we have all the reasons to look forward to our best fishing season yet! And remember you still have time until June 7th to sign up for our Vancouver membership and enjoy the freshest, most sustainable seafood straight from your West Coast fishermen!
