Contamination watch - Bluefin tuna caught off San Diego show Fukushima Cesium contamination

http://enenews.com/breaking-radioactive-bluefin-tuna-caught-off-coast-of-san-diego-the-results-are-unequivocal-fukushima-was-the-source-we-were-frankly-kind-of-startled

Radioactive Bluefin Tuna Caught Off Coast Of San Diego
KGTV San Diego
POSTED: 11:54 am PDT May 28, 2012

Across the vast Pacific, the mighty bluefin tuna carried radioactive contamination that leaked from Japan’s crippled nuclear plant to the shores of the United States 6,000 miles away — the first time a huge migrating fish has been shown to carry radioactivity such a distance.

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The levels of radioactive cesium were 10 times higher than the amount measured in tuna off the California coast in previous years. But even so, that’s still far below safe-to-eat limits set by the U.S. and Japanese governments.

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But scientists did not expect the nuclear fallout to linger in huge fish that sail the world because such fish can metabolize and shed radioactive substances.

The results “are unequivocal. Fukushima was the source,” said Ken Buesseler of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who had no role in the research.

Bluefin tuna absorbed radioactive cesium from swimming in contaminated waters and feeding on contaminated prey such as krill and squid, the scientists said.

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Now that scientists know that bluefin tuna can transport radiation, they also want to track the movements of other migratory species including sea turtles, sharks and seabirds.

Nicholas Fisher, one of the researchers reporting the findings online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

• “We were frankly kind of startled”
• “That’s a big ocean. To swim across it and still retain these radionuclides is pretty amazing.”