This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Is Fukushima Radiation Causing the Epidemic of Dead and Starving Sea Lions In California?
Painting by Jonathan Raddatz
Associated Press reports:
At island rookeries off the Southern California coast, 45 percent of the pups born in June have died, said Sharon Melin, a wildlife biologist for the National Marine Fisheries Service based in Seattle. Normally, less than one-third of the pups would die.
It’s gotten so bad in the past two weeks that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared an “unusual mortality event.” That will allow more scientists to join the search for the cause, Melin said.
***
Even the pups that are making it are markedly underweight ….
***
Rescuers have had to leave the worst of them in an effort to save the strongest ones, she said.
***
Routine testing of seafood is being done by state and federal agencies and consumer safety experts are working with NOAA to find the problem.”No link has been established at this time between these sea lion strandings and any potential seafood safety issues,” NOAA said in a statement.
Given that the FDA has refused to test seafood for radiation, we’re not that confident that the government is looking that hard to see if Fukushima fallout is the cause.
Reuters notes:
From the beginning of this year through last Sunday, 948 sea lion pups came ashore in Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, according to figures from NOAA.
“There really isn’t an oceanographic explanation for what we’re seeing,” Melin said. “We’re looking at disease as a possibility and also at the food supply, and it could be some combination.”
CNN reports:
This is an unprecedented crisis for the species in this state says the Pacific Marine Mammal Center.
***
“So we are seeing exponentially higher numbers” [Keith Matassa, who runs the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach said].
***
When you say off the charts, this is what you’re talking about.
CBS News reported last week:
”They’re very sick,” said Keith Matassa, who runs the Pacific Marine Mammal Center in Laguna Beach. His team is nursing 115 sea lions back to health. “A normal sea lion at this age — 8 to 9 months old — should be around 60, 70 pounds,” said Matassa.
“We’re seeing them come into our center at 20 to 25 pounds, and really they look like walking skeletons.”
AP notes:
Biologists knew last spring that this year’s supply of anchovies and sardines could be limited, Boehm said.
“These two species of fish are an extremely important part of California sea lions’ diets, and females simply may not have been able to nurse their young sufficiently, resulting in abandonment, premature weaning and subsequent strandings,” he said.
Besides anchovies and sardines, sea lions also eat squid and other ocean creatures.
Time reported in April 2011:
Few people want to see the ocean’s anchovy stocks wiped out by radiation either. That’s just the scenario that seemed to be developing, however, when reports coming out of Japan revealed that elevated levels of cesium-137 had been found in anchovies in the waters off Chiba, near Toky0—a direct result of the ongoing crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant.
***
In the big-fish-eats-little-fish way of the ocean, the radioactive contamination eventually gets passed up the food chain, concentrating in fats which get consumed and stored, until the isotopes finally come to rest in the very largest creature at the top of the food chain ….
Huge die-offs of sardines were also reported in the Chiba area of Japan after Fukushima.
Moreover, the Vancouver Sun reported in January 2012 that 94 per cent of the anchovies and 92 per cent of the sardines sold by the Japanese to Canada contained radioactive cesium. Some of the fish were caught in Japanese coastal waters; but others were made many hundreds of miles away in the open ocean.
(Note: there may be additional reasons for fluctuations in the numbers of anchovies and sardines other than radiation.)
Moreover, radiation from Fukushima was directly deposited into the kelp off the Western coast of North America … especially in Southern California.
Fish that eat the kelp have also gotten exposed to the radiation … as have the animals that eat those fish.
NOAA reports:
Sea lions … feed on the fish that live in kelp forests.
(Images here.)
There are numerous other routes in which the Fukushima radiation could be getting to the sea lion pups. We noted last year:
A 1955 U.S. government report concluded that the ocean may not adequately dilute radiation from nuclear accidents.
MIT says that seawater which is itself radioactive may begin hitting the West Coast within 5 years.
In 10 years, peak radioactive cesium levels off of the West Coast of North America could be 10 times higher than at the coast of Japan.
As we’ve previously noted, Reuters reports that Alaskan seals are suffering mysterious lesions and hair loss:
Scientists in Alaska are investigating whether local seals are being sickened by radiation from Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
Scores of ring seals have washed up on Alaska’s Arctic coastline since July, suffering or killed by a mysterious disease marked by bleeding lesions on the hind flippers, irritated skin around the nose and eyes and patchy hair loss on the animals’ fur coats.
***
“We recently received samples of seal tissue from diseased animals captured near St. Lawrence Island with a request to examine the material for radioactivity,” said John Kelley, Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Marine Science at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
“There is concern expressed by some members of the local communities that there may be some relationship to the Fukushima nuclear reactor’s damage,” he said.
Here’s a picture of one of the injured seals:
We reported yesterday that a new scientific paper shows that the Fukushima radioactive plume contaminated the entire Northern hemisphere during a relatively short period of time ….
Radioactive fish are also being found off the West Coast.
A California-sized island of debris from Japan is also hitting the West Coast.
And West Coast residents have also been exposed to Fukushima radiation from the air. See this, this and this.
Unfortunately, the nuclear accident is nowhere near contained. Japanese experts say that Fukushima is currently releasing up to 93 billion becquerels of radioactive cesium into the ocean each day, the reactors have lost containment, and groundwater is flooding into the stricken reactors (delaying clean-up).
And things may get worse for California, instead of better .
»
- advertisements -
That or the slow-decaying isotopes somehow managed to out-decay the faster ones...
Either way, long radimeters and iodide pills....
Pelagic fish depletion is 93%.
Are Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants Suffering the Effects of Nuclear Radiation Fallout from Fukushima?
....mysterious illness striking hundreds of Alaska Airlines flight attendants, causing rashes and hair loss.....
http://mieuxprevenir.blogspot.com.br/2012/05/are-alaska-airlines-flight-...
The link above is just like the article above.
No evidence.
Damn. That's solid news & a year old :( That means it's still really, really hard to get good news even in alt-media moving about the real disaster there. I guess I'll never see Wreck beach again... such a nice place (Vancouver). Now instead of naked college babes I can expect radiation sickness. :(
The recicrulating air units in airoplanes are generally down the back of the plane close to where the attendants hang out during the flight. The filters in those units would be the accumulation point for airborne radioactive particles.
it would be interesting to wander down there with a radiation counter on a bird that regularly transits the pacific.
Damn, I fly 2000 miles a week up and down the coast on Alaska Air. I am going to use your point as justification for why I should be in the first class seats. Wish me luck cause I have no hair to waste
No metion of the rest of the flight crew having symptoms, like the pilots. ??????
There are no coincidences
Just BTW ... on CHERNOBYL , ca. 25+ years ago.
Wild Boar in Germany
ca. 20% of Wild Boar in Germany are still radioactive / contaminated due to C.
IIRC, the German Govt. compensated Hunters for "inedible" boars with over 1 mio. EUR in2011 .
Farms in the UK
There are still over 300 farms banned from selling their product to the public due to high radiation.
Mostly those on higher ground and usually sheep farmers.
Strangely , "lamb" is cheap in England and expensive in Germany.
What gives ?
For the skeptics .. I will search for the old links ... if they are not yet deleted.
Maybe Japan should find some ancient script that says Fukushima really belongs to China?
Maybe China should find some cause for ultimatum Japan about it (you know, like it will hit them too).
Dear pesants,
Keep calm and carry on.
Bio-accumulation will continue until it won't be safe to eat seafood from the ocean. They know this but are afraid of telling about this horrible end. Remember those little fish and plankton and seaweed is being eaten by bigger animals and on and on. So the radiation is accumulating in more animals and they are irradiated. People are being led to believe that the radiation once water is on it just sloughs off and it's clean again. The oceans, will take thousands of years to irradiate but it won't happen because of the radiation going into all the lifeforms and being washed up on the shores and beaches. The life in the oceans will be unusable to us in a century maybe sooner than we think.
"They know this but are afraid of telling about this horrible end."
Big thanks Buck for speaking your truth. Same same here and ditto too.
Here is some stuff to hard copy for fun and entertainment.
http://www.esd.ornl.gov/programs/ecorisk/documents/tm13141.pdf
And what is worse and a major reason we are seeing more and more zombieism:
"Late-Delayed Effects: Other delayed changes occur only in some individuals, are not temporary, can cause more cognitive impairment and are not well understood by doctors and scientists. These late-delayed changes are caused by disturbances in multiple physiological systems, such as the immune system and vascular system. Our study, which is funded by the National Cancer Institute, is designed to understand the delayed effects of radiation therapy."
http://www.research.chop.edu/web/research/faculty/radiation/index.html
The sad unreality is this is like you say and many here know. It is a world population reduction agenda, and fear is an awesome control mechanism. Nuff sed.
The canaries in the coal mine are dying ! It's too late to stop what has been released. “What is, will be no more”.
Truly, these sea lion deaths are canaries in the coal mine. If we ignore them then we are next at some point in time.
Perhaps cockroaches are destined to take over in the end and all those years of spraying will have counted for nothing.
also the gulf of mexico shrimp and fish with tumors, no eyes, random bleeding. You know the sea floor is still leaking oil, the entire bottom is coated.
The massive overfishing for the last 200+ years is taking it's toll. All you can eat fish and shrimp gourging could only last a couple generations.
I avoid seafood now, just cannot trust the quality and not worth the painful anal bleeding fake tuna.
..."the Fukushima's of this world AND the crappy banking system"...
.... are joined at the hip.
...are excrescences of each other.
I would not read too much into the deaths of the sea lions until 45% of new born kids are also born dead or with two heads.
Seriously though, did anyone think there would not be continuing fallout (no pun intended) from the Fukushima disaster?
Slowly but surely more and more adverse results will pop up in nature.
It seems that either the Fukushima's of this world or the crappy banking system is destined to bring humanity to its knees.
P.P Your last sentence uses the wrong tense. My grandchildren are screwed. Time for retribution. Milestones
No wonder people jokingly refer to the Apocalypse and Revelations these days
"Apocalypse and Revelations"
Apocalypse means Revelation.
There is no fucking testing of seafood " for radiation as normal" since Fuckushittinme... They stopped so as not to sow panic and piss off the Japs, FFS
Who the fuck from the Gubamont says this shit?
The pup is loosing hair and has open sores on the skin, loss of appetite.
Haven't any of you guys served and know anything about this?
Slept when your MGySgt was screaming atcha?
Jesus!
The corporal probably had to order you to hydrate, too
Stick your head over here Marine, I can't see my watch.
"Indeed, mainstream Japanese newspaper Nikkei reports that it was President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton who have pressured the Japanese to re-start that country’s nuclear program after the Japanese government vowed to end all nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima disaster."
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/10/it-is-the-american-not-japanese-g...
Government is for and by the corporations so why should the FDA do anything about it. You have to do it yourself. You can get a Geiger counter on John B. Wells website caravantomidnight. Safe surfing to you.
How accurate will it be on my fish sandwich? There sure are a lot of fish sandwiches being advertised now.
Methinks we've pissed off God
Chuckles, knuckles.
"God" is impossible to piss off.
People who pretend to speak for "God" are easy to piss off, since one of the central characteristics of religious fanatics is they have barely any sense of humour.
Pissed off God?
TPTB could care less. As far as they're concerned, they ARE God.
I could quote some Greek mythology outlining where this sort of belief leads, but I doubt it's necessary.
And the Lord spoke,
"Hey, Saint Peter, tell Jesus to cobble up a few more loaves, looks like we've got 7 billion comin' for dinner"
Showering radiation 24/7 on animals usually has consequences, esp on the young faster growing ones...not to mention embryos which are super sensitive.
Watch for more abnormalities to show up and leukemia to sky rocket.
maybe tourists have been feeding them one Hamburger to many?
Actually, the main reason is that due to their protected status, their populations have exploded, and they've decimated their food source (salmon); resulting in cancelled salmon seasons all over California.
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20120203/NEWS01/702029790
http://wdfw.wa.gov/conservation/sealions/
It's also drawing Great White Sharks to California:
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130317/NEWS/303170321
Just like deer in New Jersey, we should allow a 'thinning' of the herd...
Get out of here with your science bullshit. We're having a GW groupie circle jerk right now.
Great theory with a Malthusian flavor. I like it. Tres doomdayish.
Only problem with your theory is that salmon have never been that plentiful in SoCAL.
They're mostly found north of Point Conception.
And south of there is apparently where the die off is mainly occurring.
FAIL!
From CA fish and game commission report:
in California, it should be noted that this decline has been continuing for over 50 years. The cumulative effects of all human induced impacts has so depressed the populations that even factors such as natural predation have taken on critical significance. Human development and its associated impacts are primarily responsible for the decline of coho salmon populations. Habitat loss in both freshwater and ocean, overexploitation, disease and a host of other human related influences has created a critical situation for the continued viability of coho salmon in California.
Probably because the CA Fish and Game Commission has been hijacked by the trolls pushing the Agenda 21 template...
Why the down arrows and no explanations?
The water in Southern California this year has been unusually cold and clear i.e. dead. Normally Southern California litoral waters are murky and full of life. Mass starvations and die offs of all kinds are common, sadly. You can see a good example at dinosaur national monument.
In some ways there is nothing more tragic than the crimes of humanity against other animals
They have some truth who say that humans are really a plague species, bringing death and torment to other species on the earth ... most wickedly in the torture of animals in human so-called 'laboratories', both commercial and academic
Some of the Native peoples of North America perhaps had the right view -
That the animals are our equals ... and we should bow our heads and pray for forgiveness from the spirits whenever we end or harm their lives
Cafo's are hell on Earth for animals. A pure living hell...
I hope when I buy grass fed I am doing an endrun around supporting that. Am I deluding myself Hulk?
Nope. The animals live a blissful life (up until the end). Give thanks to the animal for feeding you !!!
Your first sentence says it all.
So sad, the suffering of animals at the hand of man. This story, and the few years I spent working at an animal shelter make me weep.
Banksters are at the top of the humans at the top of the plague species. No offense intended bank dude. Viruses can be a bitch too.
Are you saying that the Banksters at the top of the pyramid are going to wind up with all of the Cesium as well? What more do they want?
Go long Cesium.
I am all for the Banksters getting all the cesium. Of course it may not affect them since the way they act, they cannot be human.
Sooo, a baby seal goes into a bar and the bartender asks what'll it have.
The seal says...anything but canadian club ;-)