“They’re All Gone”: Shock as sardines vanish off California — Fishermen didn’t find a single one all summer

[Steven Gaal]

The message that we should be taking from all this is not that Fukushima fall out IS causing problems but rather than we should be prudent and monitor the situation so that if it does change, we can be alerted. BURTON

GEE (Gaal) "not that Fukushima fall out IS causing problems " Seems "neither one of us is an environmental scientist or a nuclear physicist (Burton)"

Professor Burton has reached a conclusion.(Gaal)

++++++++++++ the figures and table don't necessarily mean anything. All we know is if something is higher than normal we get worried.(BURTON) Golly if the table shows increased Milk Cesium (post 3/11) I dont have to be a scientist to be worried , just a good Google reader with a good amount college chemistry background . (GAAL)

Cesium-137

An inevitable byproduct of nuclear fission is the production of fission products which are highly radioactive. Cesium-137 and strontium-90 are the most dangerous radioisotopes to the environment in terms of their long-term effects. Their intermediate half-lives of about 30 years suggests that they are not only highly radioactive but that they have a long enough halflife to be around for hundreds of years. Iodine-131 may give a higher initial dose, but its short halflife of 8 days ensures that it will soon be gone. Besides its persistence and high activity, cesium-137 has the further insidious property of being mistaken for potassium by living organisms and taken up as part of the fluid electrolytes. This means that it is passed on up the food chain and reconcentrated from the environment by that process.

Cesium-137 decay has a half-life of 30.07 years and proceeds by both beta decay and gamma emission from an intermediate state. Both the electron and gamma emissions are highly ionizing radiation. The gamma radiation is very penetrating, and the beta radiation, though very short range, is very dangerous when ingested because it deposits all that energy in a very short distance in tissue.

Cesium's danger as an environmental hazard, damaging when ingested, is made worse by it's mimicing of potassium's chemical properties. This ensures that cesium as a contaminant will be ingested, because potassium is needed by all living things.

==================================================

Additionally, ENENews is "cherry picking" reports (Burton)

Cherry picking ?? True core of Dr. Buessler concerns is much more worry than you seem to have. He is setting up his own independant monitoring. (SEE BELOW,Gaal) = Activists who distrust the US government taking the responsibility of radiation monitoring into their own hands.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

linttrap comments at thisbluemarble

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

US residents monitor Fukushima radiation

Activists who distrust the US government taking the responsibility of radiation monitoring into their own hands.

http://www.aljazeera.com/humanrights...450378232.html

An excerpt from the above article, which is long and full of interesting information.

...leading marine chemist Ken Buesseler says no US government agency currently tests radiation levels in the Pacific Ocean.

"I don't expect the radiation levels to be high but we can't dismiss the concerns that the public has," said Buesseler, who works for the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, a non profit research organization based in Massachusetts and focused on studying the ocean.

Buesseler, along with a team from WHOI, made the first of his three visits to the Fukushima area in June 2011. They suspected groundwater flowing through the reactor site was carrying radiation into the sea.

Buesseler says weeks after the March 2011 Fukushima Plant disaster occurred a large plume of radioactive air swept across the Pacific Ocean and over California.

According to Buesseler a second plume is headed towards California, this one is in the water and has taken almost three years to make it across the Pacific Ocean.

"The effects of Fukushima will be increasing as the front edge of a large water plume coming from the nuclear plant will reach California soon and increase over the years," said Buesseler.

Buesseler recently took his concerns to Washington where he met with US government officials at the various agencies responsible for monitoring radiation levels in air, food, and water.

He said he visited officials at the Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

"They all said that it's not their responsibility to test the Pacific Ocean for radiation. This issue is falling between the cracks of government responsibility. It’s a health and safety issue here," Buesseler said.

Bertucci and Sythe say that with no US government testing ocean waters there isn't any large scale studies to peak the interests of local or national government officials.

"There isn't data to suggest that people should be alarmed about the radiation levels of the waters along California's coast. There is no evidence of environmental impact or affects on public health," said US Congressman Jared Huffman, who represents a large part of California's northern coast.

However some members of Fukushima Response say that a lack of data doesn't mean that the issue doesn't exist.

"The nuclear energy lobby groups are strong and there is a lid on the kind of peer reviewed scientific data that is going to give us the quantifiable effects [of the Fukushima radiation]," said Bertucci.

Huffman says he doesn't see any signs of a cover up by the nuclear energy industry or the US government but says that "the US government should be doing more testing in order to convince the public that the ocean and fish are safe."

Buesseler's concern about radiation levels in the ocean and the absence of a government monitoring program led him to start his own testing and monitoring service.

Buesseler says he is in the process of setting up a website that will allow people to mail samples of water collected off their beaches and docks to the WHOI for a tax-free donation. The results will be posted on the Internet for the public to access.

"I'm not terribly confident in the information Japan is sharing about the plant’s activities and clean up. That's why it's even more important now to advocate for continuous testing of air, food, and ocean water for radiation," said Norman.

__________________
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Man will never be free until the last politician is strangled with the entrails of the last priest." Voltaire or Diderot

“When you hear ‘no immediate danger‘ from nuclear radiation then you should run away as far and as fast as you can.”
-Alexey Yablokov, member of the Russian academy of sciences and adviser to President Gorbachev at the time of Chernobyl

Edited February 16, 2014 by Steven Gaal

[Evan Burton]

You're your own worst enemy, Steven, when you decide that you don't need any assistance to understand complex technical issues. To others I would recommend that unless they are trained in these areas, seek expert advice in comprehending exactly what data is saying (and a good start is to read the conclusion).

And you are damned by your own post, which simply reinforces what I have previously said:

Huffman says he doesn't see any signs of a cover up by the nuclear energy industry or the US government but says that "the US government should be doing more testing in order to convince the public that the ocean and fish are safe."

<snip>

"I'm not terribly confident in the information Japan is sharing about the plant’s activities and clean up. That's why it's even more important now to advocate for continuous testing of air, food, and ocean water for radiation," said Norman.

[Steven Gaal]

assistance to understand complex technical issues.(RE: FUKUSHIMA) BURTON

##########################################################################

BURTON'S CONTROL PROGRAMING ....eah eh ha ....... NEWS SOURCES (Gaal)

http://www.foe.org.au/fukushima-and-death-science-journalism-australia

=======================================================

Japan to Ban All News Coverage of Fukushima – Ten Year Prison Penalty (worded slightly differently)

(Before It's News)
A less-than-candid admission by the Japanese government that the situation is completely out of its hand and is adopting the Ostrich Option – But the world cannot follow suit or stand by any more because this also means “It Will Get Even Worse…” T Dennen

Fukushima continues to spew out radiation. The quantities seem to be rising, as do the impacts.

The site has been infiltrated by organized crime. There are horrifying signs of ecological disaster in the Pacific and human health impacts in the United States.

But within Japan, a new State Secrets Act makes such talk punishable by up to ten years in prison.
....
A year ago a Japanese professor was detained 20 days without trial for speaking out against the open-air incineration of radioactive waste.

Now Prime Minister Abe can do far worse. The Times of India reports that the State Secrets Act is unpopular, and that Abe’s approval ratings have dropped with its passage.

But the new law may make Japan’s democracy a relic of its pre-Fukushima past.

It’s the cancerous mark of a nuclear regime bound to control all knowledge of a lethal global catastrophe now ceaselessly escalating.


[end snip]

FULL ARTICLE:

http://beforeitsnews.com/japan-earthquake/2013/12/japan-to-ban-all-news-coverage-of-fukushima-ten-year-prison-penalty-2444758.html

Edited February 17, 2014 by Steven Gaal

[Steven Gaal]

TV: “Extremely high levels of radioactive substances” leaked Wednesday night at Fukushima plant — 25 trillion becquerels of Strontium-90 and other beta emitters estimated to have flowed out — “Investigation is still underway” (VIDEO)

see

http://enenews.com/tv-extremely-high-levels-of-radioactive-substances-leaked-at-fukushima-plant-25-trillion-bq-of-beta-ray-emitters-like-strontium-90-estimated-to-have-escaped-investigation-is-still-underwa

NHK, Feb. 19, 2014: Highly radioactive water leaks at Fukushima plant [...] [Tepco] says water containing extremely high levels of radioactive substances has leaked from a storage tank. [and] was found on Wednesday night [...] the water leaked from a seam near the top of the tank. It traveled along a rainwater pipe and flowed outside the barrier that surrounds the tank. [...] Officials say their investigation is still underway.

Bloomberg, Feb. 19, 2014: Tepco Says New Leak of Radioactive Water Found at Fukushima Site [...] About 100 metric tons (26,400 gallons) of water [...] Beta radiation readings of 230 million becquerels per liter were taken in a water sample collected today near the H6 tank area [...] About 300 tons of contaminated groundwater seep into the ocean each day [...]

• “The sample was collected today near the H6 tank area”… Why not sample the water from inside the tank it leaked out of?
• 100 metric tons with 230,000,000 Bq/L = 23 Trillion Bq of Strontium-90 & other beta emitters, with half generally being Strontium-90 — about 11.5 trillion Bq of Sr-90
• Tepco claims 10 trillion Bq of Sr-90 entered the sea from May 2011 to Aug. 2013

Kyodo News, Feb. 20, 2014: Roughly 100 tons of highly radioactive water leaked [Tepco] said Thursday [with] 230 million becquerels per liter of strontium and other beta ray-emitting radioactive substances. The utility believes the liquid has not flowed into the adjacent sea as there is no drainage nearby [...]

Tepco “believes the liquid has not flowed into the adjacent sea”… yet. A recent special on Japan TV about Fukushima’s contaminated water summed up the situation this way:

NHK (at 36:30 in): “What has become clear is that it’s very hard to control radioactive materials once they get into the environment.”

Related Posts

1. NHK Top Story: New highly radioactive leak at Fukushima — Believed to be draining into Pacific Ocean — 200,000 Bq/liter of strontium and other beta-ray emitters (VIDEO) October 2, 2013
2. Bloomberg: ‘Highly radioactive’ leak at Fukushima Unit 3 — NHK: Melted fuel coolant thought to be flowing from containment vessel for ‘unknown reason’ — 24 Million Bq/liter of strontium, other beta emitters (VIDEO) January 20, 2014

Edited February 20, 2014 by Steven Gaal

[Evan Burton]

I don't know why you continue to insist upon shooting yourself in the foot.

From the Bloomberg link:

"The utility, which serves 29 million customers in the Tokyo metropolitan area, is collecting soil where the leak occurred and doesn’t believe any water reached the ocean, company executives said at a briefing in Tokyo. About 100 metric tons (26,400 gallons) of water may have escaped a concrete barrier, the company said."

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-20/tepco-says-new-leak-of-radioactive-water-found-at-fukushima-site.html

It just goes to show:

- Still nothing conclusive to say the sardine event was caused by the Fukushima reactor;

- The company are not hiding that there are still significant issues to be addressed; and

- We still need to be vigilant and monitor in case anything like this does become a concern.

[Steven Gaal]

I don't know why you continue to insist upon shooting yourself in the foot.

From the Bloomberg link:

"The utility, which serves 29 million customers in the Tokyo metropolitan area, is collecting soil where the leak occurred and doesn’t believe any water reached the ocean, company executives said at a briefing in Tokyo. About 100 metric tons (26,400 gallons) of water may have escaped a concrete barrier, the company said."

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-20/tepco-says-new-leak-of-radioactive-water-found-at-fukushima-site.html

It just goes to show:

- Still nothing conclusive to say the sardine event was caused by the Fukushima reactor;

- The company are not hiding that there are still significant issues to be addressed; and

- We still need to be vigilant and monitor in case anything like this does become a concern.

BELIEVED & MAY HAVE HAPPENED ??? THIS GOES TO SHOW THAT INCONCLUSIVE STATEMENTS BECOME SOLID CONCLUSIONS TO SOME.

########################################

- Still nothing conclusive to say the sardine event was caused by the Fukushima reactor/Burton

BURTON STATES THE SARDINE EVENT IS A SEASONAL EVENT(and possibly natural), THUS ASKING FOR INFORMATIONAN now is inconsistent and slightly bizzare.

Edited February 21, 2014 by Steven Gaal

[Evan Burton]

I am constantly amazed how you twist everything to fit your dogmatic views, and how you distort what has been said.

- Still nothing conclusive to say the sardine event was caused by the Fukushima reactor/Burton

BURTON STATES THE SARDINE EVENT IS A SEASONAL EVENT(and possibly natural), THUS ASKING FOR INFORMATIONAN now is inconsistent and slightly bizzare.

Nowhere did I say it was a seasonal event. What I said was we don't know what caused it and there are many explanations for it; we cannot assume it is Fukushima because there is nothing to actually support that.

Could it be Fukushima? Yes, it could be - but there is nothing to support that conclusion over other explanations.

Steven, what it goes to show is that you are guilty of the very same faults you incorrectly assign to me. I am saying we don't know what is the cause, that we need to be open-minded and evaluate each possible explanation on its merits.

You, conversely, simply posit that your claims are correct... despite no evidence to support that.

[Steven Gaal]

Nowhere did I say it was a seasonal event. What I said was we don't know what caused it and there are many explanations for it; we cannot assume it is Fukushima because there is nothing to actually support that. // BURTON
###############################################################

Evan Burton

• Posted 16 January 2014 - 10:48 AM

Please keep in mind the reason is unclear, and may have a completely natural cause:

Quote

The reason for the drop is unclear. Sardine populations are famously volatile, but the decline is the steepest since the collapse of the sardine fishery in the mid-20th century. And their numbers are projected to keep sliding.

One factor is a naturally occurring climate cycle known as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, which in recent years has brought cold, nutrient-rich water to the West Coast. While those conditions have brought a boom in some species, such as market squid, they have repelled sardines.

If nature is responsible for the decline, history shows the fish will bounce back when ocean conditions improve. But without a full understanding of the causes, the crash is raising alarm.

Golly seams Pacific Decadal Oscillation is a seasonal event. SORRY EVAN, YOU KNOW YOUR OWN WORST ENEMY. "Nowhere did I say it was a seasonal event (Burton)" .....hard to remember your own posts ?????

*****************************************************************************************

despite no evidence to support that. //BURTON

Mr. Burton ENE quotes many radiation scientists.

Edited February 21, 2014 by Steven Gaal

[Evan Burton]

Steven,

Is English your first language? If it is not then that might explain why you have so much trouble comprehending my statements. Now, read carefully:

",,, and MAY have a completely NATURAL cause."

MAY = Used to express possibility. In other words something that might be but also might not be.

NATURAL = Of or pertaining to nature or the universe, happening in the ordinary or usual course of things, without the intervention of accident, violence, etc.

So again, Steven, I did not say it was a seasonal event. There is no evidence for us to be certain it was anything other than a natural event. That might include seawater changes caused by undersea vents, that might include any one of hundreds of explanations. In time those investigating this occurrence may be able to tell us with certainty what caused this; conversely the explanation may never be known.

Lastly, even if it is PDO, you are still wrong:

SEASONAL

adjective

1.

pertaining to, dependent on, or accompanying the seasons of the year or some particular season;periodical: seasonal work.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/seasonal?s=t

The PDO is detected as warm or cool surface waters in the Pacific Ocean, north of 20° N. During a "warm", or "positive", phase, the west Pacific becomes cool and part of the eastern ocean warms; during a "cool" or "negative" phase, the opposite pattern occurs. It shifts phases on at least inter-decadal time scale, usually about 20 to 30 years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_decadal_oscillation

20-30 years is NOT 'seasonal', Steven. If ever I can assist you with the correct definitions of English words or how they are used, I am only too happy to assist.

[Steven Gaal]

Steven,

Is English your first language? If it is not then that might explain why you have so much trouble comprehending my statements. Now, read carefully:

",,, and MAY have a completely NATURAL cause."

MAY = Used to express possibility. In other words something that might be but also might not be.// Burton

============

Evan Burton, on 20 Feb 2014 - 10:39 PM, said:

I don't know why you continue to insist upon shooting yourself in the foot.

From the Bloomberg link:

"The utility, which serves 29 million customers in the Tokyo metropolitan area, is collecting soil where the leak occurred and doesn’t believe any water reached the ocean, company executives said at a briefing in Tokyo. About 100 metric tons (26,400 gallons) of water may have escaped a concrete barrier, the company said."

BURTON ==It (above,Gaal) just goes to show:

- The company are not hiding that there are still significant issues to be addressed

###########################

ITS Re: usage of the word 'MAY' BURTON vs BURTON.

BELIEVED & MAY HAVE HAPPENED ??? THIS GOES TO SHOW THAT INCONCLUSIVE STATEMENTS BECOME SOLID CONCLUSIONS TO SOME.(Gaal)

############################

Definition of SEASON

1

a : a time characterized by a particular circumstance or feature <in a season of religious awakening — F. A. Christie>

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Mr. Burton may (opps the may word ) the season (gee like in many,many years)* of your head in the ground be a safe one. (Gaal)

###############

(gee like in many,many years)*

The usage of season is more complex then you assert. Out of curiousity ,is English your primary language ?

+++
report due in April

http://www.petaluma360.com/article/20140206/COMMUNITY/140209748?Title=Searching-for-signs-of-Fukushima-radiation-on-North-Coast

Edited February 22, 2014 by Steven Gaal

[Evan Burton]

Wow Steven; I've seen acts of desperation before but you certainly rate among the most significant. Is it so hard for you to admit that it might be something other than radiation? Hell, for all we know it may have been pollution dumped in the region by some multinational conglomerate which has so far evaded detection. That is certainly within the realms of possibility but again there is nothing to support that.

Why is it so hard for you to admit you might be wrong? We're all wrong about things in our lives. I might be wrong about this; it might end up being directly caused by Fukushima... it just needs evidence to show that. But you.. you seem to fear being incorrect, have to abandon all sense of logic and try to support an indefensible position.

Can you not simply admit that whilst you BELIEVE it is being caused by the Fukushima disaster, it may in fact be completely unrelated to it? Is that so abhorrent to you?

[Steven Gaal]

Wow Steven EVAN ; I've seen acts of desperation before but you certainly rate among the most significant (Modified Burton)

################################

desperation yes by the government .....

Japan to Ban All News Coverage of Fukushima – Ten Year Prison Penalty (worded slightly differently)

(Before It's News)
A less-than-candid admission by the Japanese government that the situation is completely out of its hand and is adopting the Ostrich Option – But the world cannot follow suit or stand by any more because this also means “It Will Get Even Worse…” T Dennen

Fukushima continues to spew out radiation. The quantities seem to be rising, as do the impacts.

The site has been infiltrated by organized crime. There are horrifying signs of ecological disaster in the Pacific and human health impacts in the United States.

But within Japan, a new State Secrets Act makes such talk punishable by up to ten years in prison.
....
A year ago a Japanese professor was detained 20 days without trial for speaking out against the open-air incineration of radioactive waste.

Now Prime Minister Abe can do far worse. The Times of India reports that the State Secrets Act is unpopular, and that Abe’s approval ratings have dropped with its passage.

But the new law may make Japan’s democracy a relic of its pre-Fukushima past.

It’s the cancerous mark of a nuclear regime bound to control all knowledge of a lethal global catastrophe now ceaselessly escalating.


[end snip]

FULL ARTICLE:

http://beforeitsnews.com/japan-earthquake/2013/12/japan-to-ban-all-news-coverage-of-fukushima-ten-year-prison-penalty-2444758.html

[Evan Burton]

You can't admit you might be wrong, can you? How do explain this then... a similar event but unrelated to Fukushima?

Vast tracts of Australia's coastline have been denuded of large fish, with marine life under pressure from climate change, over-fishing, pollution and invasive species, a year-long study has found.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/feb/21/large-fish-disappeared-from-australia-coast

Why isn't it possible that both events stem from the same cause?

[Steven Gaal]

_{many things can kill fish....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_kill}

_{but its more important to worry about the fish killing you .............}

_{#############################}

_{Fukushima Radiation Could Kill You, One Meal At A Time}

_{(Before It's News)}

_{I recently bought some wild-caught Alaskan salmon. My intention was to cook it for my wife on our tenth wedding anniversary, which is coming up in just a few days.}

_{However, a week after bringing the beautiful deep orange fillets home and placing them in the freezer, I had a thought: what if they were radioactive?}

_{I’m sure you have similar thoughts all the time. Thoughts like “is this honey real” or “will an EMP wreck my gardening?”}

_{Unfortunately, my thoughts aren’t all that far-fetched. The Fukushima reactor accident has leaked radiation into the ocean and is continuing to do so, even though governments and the mainstream media continue to ignore or downright hied the evidence.}

_{The sick thing? A lot of people are likely to die before the truth comes fully into the light – check this out:}

_{Are fish from the Pacific Ocean safe to eat? It’s a question that’s back in the news after revelations of highly radioactive water leaking into the ocean from Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant.}

_{“Let me assure you, the situation is under control,” Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said during lobbying for the 2020 Olympics. “There are no health-related problems until now, nor will there be in the future.”}

_{But the fish tell a different story about the impacts of the March 2011 tsunami that destroyed the Fukushima plant and caused massive amounts of radiation to end up in the Pacific.}

_{About 800 people worldwide will get cancer from radiation due to Fukushima in fish eaten to date, according to Georgia Straight calculations. The Straight results relied on a widely used cancer-risk formula developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as well as radiation levels in 33,000 fish tested by the Japanese Fisheries Agency.}

_{Half the cancers will be fatal. About 500 will be in Japan; 75 will be due to Japanese fish exports to other countries; and 225 will be from fishing in the Pacific by nations other than Japan.}

_{And that’s likely only a small part of the actual long-term cancer impacts from eating the fish. Two nuclear experts who saw the Straight’s figures said the real cancer toll could be 100 times higher—or 80,000 cancers.}

_{“The potential numbers could be two orders of magnitude [100 times] higher than your numbers,” Daniel Hirsch, a nuclear-policy lecturer at the University of California at Santa Cruz, said in a phone interview. “Hundreds of cancers are nothing to sneeze at, and it is a fraction of what I suspect the total will be” (CLICK HERE to keep reading)}

_{I think I’m going to skip the fish next week.}

_{The post Fukushima Radiation Could Kill You, One Meal At A Time appeared first on .}

_{Source: http://theprepperproject.com/fukushima-radiation-kill-one-meal-time/}

_{Source: http://theprepperproject.com/fukushima-radiation-kill-one-meal-time/}

Edited February 22, 2014 by Steven Gaal

[Evan Burton]

It would be nice to see the data that the Georgia Straight used; I'm not convinced that it is still valid when one of their sources, Daniel Hirsch, now says there is nothing wrong. Note that his original quote were from 2013 and the one below is from 8 Jan 14:

At UC Santa Cruz, Daniel Hirsch, a lecturer on nuclear policy, called the low levels of radiation being reported now in California as "trivial."

"No one here in the Bay Area should be concerned about eating fish," he said in a phone interview.

http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Coast-getting-little-radiation-from-Fukushima-5125645.php