Fukushima Daiichi Updates: Marine Environmental Ecosystem Collapse

————————- Updated 06/30/2015 ————————

6/30/15 – Mutant fish with “grotesque tumor bubbling out of face” near Three Mile Island — “We’re waiting to catch one with 3 eyes” — Officials: “Unrecognizable pathogen” affecting population, “this is very, very serious” — Alarming rates of sores and lesions — Nearly 70% of males have female egg cells in testicles (VIDEO) Reference: [http://enenews.com] [http://enenews.com/mutant-fish-found-three-mile-island-nuclear-plant-grotesque-tumor-bubbling-face-officials-unrecognizable-pathogen-affecting-population]

6/29/15 – Officials: Much of Pacific Ocean threatened by Fukushima releases, an area covering 1/3 of globe — US: “States in region understandably concerned for safety”… “Urgent need” to assess impact on food, water — IAEA begins testing around Pacific {[Reference:[http://enenews.com/category/location/japan/fukushima-reactors] … for headlines/articles below…]}

6/28/15 – Nonprofit Group: “Every single person” we hosted from Japan has had health problems… Blood stains found in almost all of their beds — Japanese Mom: Most mothers I’ve met from Tokyo and Fukushima are suffering thyroid problems, eye problems, nose bleeds… It’s been very surprising (VIDEO)

6/26/15 – NASA Experts: Southeast US hit by “anomalously high” levels of polonium from Fukushima — Never seen before, except during volcanic events — Fallout also detected in Mississippi river — Polonium releases kept secret in past nuclear disasters; Death estimates would skyrocket if included

6/25/15 – “Eerie new phenomenon” attacking sea creatures on West Coast — Marine life disappearing from tide pools — Fish, octopus, mussels, urchins, limpets, sea hares “seem to be leaving… there’s something going on” — “Experts have no idea what to expect next” (VIDEO)

6/24/15 – Fukushima plume model shows 1 Million Bq/m2 over West Coast after reactor explosions — TV: Private emails reveal highest levels of gov’t worried about health impact in US — Nuclear industry tried to bury truth, while UC Berkeley experts told public “there is no plume” (VIDEO)

6/23/15 – Major Newspapers: The big question is, where did Fukushima’s melted fuel go?… Just where is that fuel?… No one even knows where it is — Experts: The world’s never seen anything like this… We have 3 nuclear cores that hit groundwater (VIDEO)

6/22/15 – TV: Emergency survey underway along West Coast, marine life being affected “in ways never seen before” — CBS: “Unusual increase in dolphin, sea lion, and seabird deaths” — Thought to be largest toxic bloom “anywhere, ever” — Worry that impacts on fish to last several years (VIDEO)

6/20/15 – 10 giant whales found dead in Pacific off US coast — Victims of ‘mysterious affliction’ — Mass die-off of walruses and seabirds reported nearby — Experts: “Something out of the ordinary is happening” — “Really perplexing… We’re at a loss… Maybe whales ran into a toxin” (AUDIO)

6/19/15 – NBC: Sea creatures swarming ashore from San Diego to San Fran. — CBS: Millions of dead blanketing miles of coastline, “like a red carpet… 12-16 inches thick… never seen anything like this” — ABC: We wonder if they’re sick, or it’s something in ocean? Scientists don’t have an explanation (PICS & VIDEO)

6/18/15 – TV: “Canadian gov’t detected airborne elements of radioactive pollutants” from Fukushima — “Radioactive materials are still gushing” from plant — “Unexpected difficulties preventing escape of airborne radioactive contaminants” (VIDEO)

6/16/15 – Study: Fukushima radiation will cause long-term harm to Pacific salmon population — Efforts needed to protect species from possible extinction — Radiation monitoring is critical to avoid human health problems — “US inland areas also at risk of exposure”

6/16/15 – Gov’t: “This is unprecedented in extent and magnitude”… toxic bloom may stretch from Calif. to Alaska — Largest event ever recorded? — Official: “It’s new territory… we’ve never had to close essentially half our coast” — Fish washing up “extremely poisonous” — “Serious concern for coastal communities”

6/13/15 – CIA Agent: Gov’t covering up effects of radiation; I hope public becomes more aware of threat to their health — Study: Actual radiation risks are “orders of magnitude greater” than official estimates; “Completely changes the picture… a serious public health hazard” (VIDEO)

6/11/15 – Senior Scientist: “Birds in such bad condition” off West Coast — Zero babies survive on islands, usually over 15,000 — “Extremely poor” breeding success… they didn’t even try — Before and after photos show beaches deserted (VIDEO)

6/10/15 – Alarms raised on West Coast over unprecedented die-off of nearly endangered marine mammals — More have washed up in last few months than during all of recorded history combined — Experts scrambling to deal with latest wildlife crisis in Pacific — Official: “What’s going to happen next?”

6/10/15 – Japan Scientists: High radiation levels near West Coast after Fukushima disaster — Almost 30 Bq/m3 of cesium offshore — Secret documents reveal US gov’t previously ordered radiation test results in Pacific be hidden to avoid contamination fears

6/09/15 – US Gov’t Contractor: Fukushima so fragile it can turn globally catastrophic at any moment – Concern about impact to West Coast from another meltdown, Danger of something “far worse” than initial event,“Substantial risk to stability of Asia-Pacific”, National Lab: Fukushima already a global disaster…[http://enenews.com/category/location/japan/fukushima-reactors]

6/08/15 – NOAA: Beaches full of dead baby sea lions off California… Many aborted fetuses – Garbage bags filled with animals along coast – Carts in freezer overflowing with bodies – Official: Pollution may well have had an effect… We deliberately didn’t test for it… [Ref: (http://enenews.com/category/location/japan/fukushima-reactors)… for most articles/headlines below…]

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6/08/15 – NOAA: Beaches full of dead baby sea lions off California… Many aborted fetuses — Garbage bags filled with animals along coast — Carts in freezer overflowing with bodies — Official: Pollution may well have had an effect… We deliberately didn’t test for it …

[http://enenews.com/noaa-beaches-full-dead-babies-california-many-aborted-fetuses-lot-death-scent-rotting-sea-lion-along-coast-garbage-bags-filled-dead-animals-govt-official-pollution-effect-deliberately-didnt-test]

[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2996757/Starving-sea-lions-California-leave-rescue-centers-struggling-cope.html]

[http://article.wn.com/view/2013/10/25/Dead_baby_found_on_conveyor_belt_of_southern_California_recy]

Yo! Venice, Jun 7, 2015 (emphasis added): The Sad Reality Of Starving, Dying Sea Lions On Venice… [A breeze] catches the scent of dead, rotting sea lion. The pungent stench lingers… It’s hard to ignore… The dead pups are small enough to be tied up tight in black plastic garbage bags. The larger adult sea lions lay out in the open.

Nick Fash, Heal the Bay: “It’s quite frightening… they wash up on our beaches weak and sickened and many cases dying, which is what you see in the bags.”

National Geographic, Jun 5, 2015: Number of Starving Sea Lions in California ‘Unprecedented’… raising questions about what the future holds after three years of mass strandings — More than 3,000 starving sea lion pups have washed up… And those are the lucky pups. The situation on California’s Channel Islands, where more than 90 percent of the U.S. sea lion population congregates to breed and nurse young, is even worse… “The few pups that have enough strength to leave the rookeries and make it to the mainland get recorded as strandings,” says NOAA’s Mark Lowry… “There’s a lot of death out there.”… When Lowry visited two of the main U.S. sea lion nurseries in April, he found a grim scene. In addition to beaches full of starving or dead pups, there were dead adult female sea lions and many aborted fetuses. “Adult females are taking a hit now,” he says. “What I’m predicting is that pup production—when they start being born in June—is going to be really low.”… This year, the most likely culprit is that warm water blob… But that blob wasn’t there during the earlier strandings, when oceanographic conditions looked much more normal. It’s also uncertain whether prey populations have died out… Sea lions are considered sentinel species, which means they’re used as indicators of ocean health—and the indications aren’t looking good.

2014-2015 Pacific Anomalies Science and Technology Workshop, May 6, 2015:

Conference Attendee (at 3:42:30): “I’m an ecotoxicologist… We know that pollution, chemical pollution of the oceans, is increasing… [In your research into the sea lion die-off] you should include data like chemical analysis and chemical pollution… We need to include this… to see if it has an influence to the decreasing of the populations.”

No response from any of the dozen Q&A panelists

6 minutes later — Sam McClatchie, NOAA Supervisory Oceanographer: “I have a comment to follow up on the idea that pollution may be important to the condition of the sea lions… In the modeling I did, the purpose was to… have a hypothesis as to what might be going on… We could have thrown in many other variables–and there’s always a temptation to do that… which probably should be discouraged. I’m not at all sure whether pollution had an effect — it might well have — and one could certainly test that. I just wanted to state that we deliberately didn’t test all the possible variables.”

From McClatchie’s sea lion presentation: “I’m going to talk about forage rather than sea lions, I’m not an expert in sea lions… They’re very unwell, rescue centers are overflowing… They’re very endearing, but they grow up to be rather a problem, they’re big animals… People get upset when they see them starving… [Centers] try to recover them [and] put them back out in the ocean. Unfortunately, the ocean hasn’t really changed, so we don’t know whether all these rescues are helping anything more than how we feel.”

6/07/15 – Gov’t Expert: West Coast will soon be hit by 800 Trillion Bq of Fukushima Cesium-137 — Nearly equal to amount of fallout deposited on Japan — Levels in Pacific “higher than expected” — “Main body of surface plume has reached off coast of US” — Never slowed down while crossing ocean, contrary to prediction… Researcher Yoichi Shimatsu suggests this to be a grossly conservative estimate by a factor of [100 – 1000x] times… [6/4/2015 – Jeff Rense & Yoichi Shimatsu – Fukushima Update [www.renseradio.com]

6/05/15 – Gov’t Officials: Fukushima should be declared uninhabitable – “Conditions are getting worse, we have to move people away… we can’t wait”- “Someone has to do something”- “Just like evacuation of children in WWII” News:“Fukushima youths ready to desert irradiated homes”…

6/02/15 – TV: Scientists warning of mass die-off along California coast — Official: Seafloor littered with dead fish, washing up “as far as I could see” — Toxin has spread all up and down West Coast — Experts: “Very, very unusual… Really extraordinary” Ref:… [http://enenews.com/tv-scientists-warning-mass-die-ocean-california-official-seafloor-littered-dead-fish-washing-could-reports-dead-seabirds-already-coming-toxin-spread-all-down-west-coast-experts-worried]

5/31/15 – Officials: ‘Nuclear fuel material’ leak at Fukushima – Japan TV: Record levels of radioactivity detected in seawater – Spiked “more than 200 times” at sampling location – Highest concentrations ever measured in 11 different areas [Tepco: Spike 7000% higher than ever recorded]…[Ref:May 29, 2015 Tepco Fukushima Port Center collection data – Tepco handouts/Images – Pg. #3 – Graph #4 – Record high value – spike in activity – massive spikes of energy and release of radiological toxins – since Jan.2015 amount of the spikes have actually been up to 7000% higher than previous spikes in radiation release from Fukushima][http://renseradioarchives.com/Nutrimedical] [http://enenews.com/radiation-levels-spike-7000-nuclear-site-ap-workers-shelter-inside-buildings-officials-actually-anticipated-contaminated-sample] [6/4/15 Dr. Bill Deagle & Jeff Rense – Fukushima Update]

5/29/15 – Japan volcano violently erupts without warning — Gov’t issues highest level alert for first time — Reuters: “Smell of sulfur, smoke blacked out sky… Officials warn of more big eruptions” — Expert: “I don’t think this is finished… We could see a more powerful eruption” — Upsurge in volcanic activity linked to 3/11 quake…

5/28/15 – US Gov’t: Melted fuel most likely burned through containment at Fukushima reactors; We’re concerned about failures underground… “Where did it leak out? How did it leak out? We don’t know” – Expert: Corium may have flowed into reactor buildings, burned through floor…

5/26/15 – “Very chilling warning” from Japan expert who foretold Fukushima meltdowns: “The Gods are warning us of something even more serious… incredibly disastrous” — Professor: Suddenly, our sun is doing very strange things… Crisis much worse than Carrington Event possible… Most unstable period since ice age, I’m very concerned about nuclear plants…

5/25/15 – Mysterious deadly black fungus being found on fish in Pacific Northwest – Gov’t: There was some concern Fukushima radiation could be involved — Biologists investigating how this land based mold is now appearing in ocean — Many reports of unusual rotting sores, growths, bumps, cancer … The Nome office of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game [ADF&G] fishery biologists speculate that the lesions are a fungus… Specifically, black mold, commonly found in houses… What the pathology lab finds interesting is that this fungus is land based and yet it is appearing on fish…Until further notice, ADF&G recommends that fish with lesions should not be eaten due to possible human health concerns (CAPTION: DON’T EAT THIS – ADF&G) Ref: (http://enenews.com/mysterious-black-mold-being-found-fish-pacific-northwest-govt-concern-fukushima-radiation-could-be-involved-biologists-investigating-landbased-fungus-appearing-fish) [Ref: See Footnote information]

=========================== [Mysterious deadly black fungus being found on fish in Pacific Northwest]

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5/25/15 – Mysterious deadly black fungus being found on fish in Pacific Northwest …

[http://enenews.com/mysterious-black-mold-being-found-fish-pacific-northwest-govt-concern-fukushima-radiation-could-be-involved-biologists-investigating-landbased-fungus]

5/21/15 – Nome Nugget (pdf), Nov 27, 2014- Mysterious deadly black fungus being found on fish in Pacific Northwest — Gov’t: There was some concern Fukushima radiation could be involved — Biologists investigating how this landbased mold is now appearing in ocean — Many reports of unusual rotting sores, growths, bumps, cancer … The Nome office of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game received several reports of tomcod with black lesions this year… ADF&G fishery biologists speculate that the lesions are a fungus… Specifically, black mold, commonly found in houses… What the pathology lab finds interesting is that this fungus is landbased and yet it is appearing on fish… Fish pathologists would like to receive as many samples as possible so that they may adequately research what exactly is infecting these fish, as well as its affect on humans. Until further notice, ADF&G recommends that fish with lesions should not be eaten due to possible human health concerns (CAPTION: DON’T EAT THIS— ADF&G biologists are investigating black lesions found on tomcods in the region. Until it is known what the lesions exactly are, the department recommends not to consume fish showing these symptoms)(http://enenews.com/mysterious-black-mold-being-found-fish-pacific-northwest-govt-concern-fukushima-radiation-could-be-involved-biologists-investigating-landbased-fungus-appearing-fish-many-reports-unusual-rotti)…

Mar 17, 2015: Brendan Scanlon, fishery biologist for North Slope Dept. of Fish & Game (pdf): Just a quick word on this fungus that people are seeing more and more of. It’s probably what’s called saprolegnia. It’s a water mold… It’s in the water at all times… healthy fish will swim around and never get it, but if the fish is stressed nutritionally or its immune system has been compromised… that gives a pathway for the mold to attack… It will eventually kill the fish… We saw something similar last summer. We had a very big die-off on the Kobuk River… we had thousands of dead chum salmon… and they had had presence of the same mold on them.

Feb 20, 2014:North Slope Federal Subsistence Regional Advisory Council (pdf), Dr. Jayde Ferguson, Alaska Dept of Fish & Game: The first confirmed report was from fish caught on Oct. 12, 2013… There was some concern that radiation from the Japanese disaster could be involved, so the North Slope biologist measured ionizing radiation in fish with a geiger-mueller counter and found that there was no elevated levels there… There was no food in the GI track and there was no fat or very little fat internally… The external lesions… corresponded to saprolegnia… it can act as a pathogen particularly in stressed fish because their immune system is depressed… I wanted to touch on a totally unrelated fungal case that is of interest to our lab because there’s not a lot known about it and it’s distinctly different from the saprolegnia in that it’s very black and large… there’s not a lot out in the literature on this black fungus… There’s just not a lot known about transmission or anything else, so we’re wanting to get a better idea of what’s going on…

Dr. Todd Sformo, Wildlife Biologist: I think the main concern was that if this mold is really present in the environment… it’s been reported a lot… why is the mold coming up being on fish at this point? So we have very few records in the north slope and Jayde mentioned the one… in the 1980s, so that was just one fish with that mold that we had recorded up until this point… why is it occurring now if it’s so prevalent in the environment?… We measured a number of the fish that were caught that had the mold and that did not have the mold and the size of the fish didn’t seem to matter at all… Ferguson: If we’re seeing it in juveniles that really does support some environmental issue… How many fish are affected?… It might not have an impact at the population level, but if there’s a large amount of fish that are affected, then that’s a different thing…

Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium:

02-02-15 – Whitefish that had a bulged out eye ball [and] some type of growth around the cheekbone. Would like to know the cause of these observed abnormalities

12-10-14 – Whitefish… has a brownish moldy growth all over it’s body. We would like to know more about what is going on with our fish and why this is happening

10-24-14 – Trout appeared to have sores… rotting or decaying… [we] have never seen these sores before… We are still seeing a lot of fish with these kinds of conditions

06-12-14 – A codfish that was caught with a deep cut or sore on it was pulled in… We are not really sure what happened to this poor cod, but we think it is unusual

05-26-14 – Whitefish that had a growth… on its dorsal fin. Other fish were also caught with a similar condition… ADF&G: “This whitefish has… probably a neoplasm (cancer)”

02-17-14 – Fish… found with lesions on them… Other people also said they saw these bumps… elders who said they have seen fish with skin bumps like this once before… people are still worried because they are not sure what it is this time…. these bumps… were like puss. There are quite a few people who are worried…

5/24/15 – Nuclear official warns of explosions at Fukushima plant — Gases accumulating in sediment underneath highly contaminated water — Spark caused by static electricity could ignite hydrogen blast…

5/19/15 – Officials: 6,000% cancer rate increase in Fukushima children’s thyroids — Expert: Urgent countermeasures against the suspected outbreak are necessary – Professor: Gov’t stopped me from checking thyroid exposure levels after 3/11…

5/18/15 – Huge spike in neurological diseases after Fukushima – 600% rise in disorders among evacuees – Similar abnormalities reported post-Chernobyl – Cases of heart disease, brain infarction also up – Physicians: “Great concern there will be additional health hazards” …

5/14/15 – Gov’t Experts: Hordes of jellyfish 10 blocks long off west coast of Seattle; So dense it’s like you can just walk on them… Disturbing when all you pull up are huge masses of jellyfish — NPR: They seem to be replacing fish in food chain — Herring disappear, mysterious spike in salmon deaths…

5/13/15 – Powerful M6.8 quake rocks NE Japan – Strongest to hit nation since 2011 – Official warns of upcoming aftershocks & tsunami, says tectonic plate is subducting in Pacific – CBS: Scientists detect month-long shaking on seafloor that could foreshadow mega quake similar to 3/11

5/12/15 – Former Japan TV News Anchor: The mutations have begun in Fukushima; Birds found blind, unable to fly – Magazine: “Birds in tailspin 4 years after Fukushima … the proverbial canary in a coalmine” – Professor: Birds with mutations popping up all over in contaminated areas…

5/04/15 – “Cauldrons of Hell” created at Fukushima, says energy company official; Disaster is recurring each day at plant – Japan Nuclear Expert: We have a crisis “of a severity that can’t be imagined anywhere else”; People have been abandoned and “thrown away”…

4/23/15 – Tepco to abandon second robot dispatched inside crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant … records reading of between 10 – 48 Sieverts before dying … (http://enenews.com/cnn-strange-green-glow-inside-fukushima-reactor-reports-yellow-blue-green-other-colors-could-be-video)

4/21/15 – TV: Nuclear waste spilling into Pacific Ocean after power outage hits Fukushima plant -Radiation Expert: Site is so radioactive and unstable “it may never be contained”…

4/20/15 – CNN: “Strange green glow” seen inside Fukushima reactor — “Yellow, blue-green and other colors could be seen” – Radiation dose hits record high near 50 sieverts per hour – 15 seconds of video removed just before levels spiked 1,000%… Ref:… [http://io9.com/what-the-hell-is-this-strange-green-glow-inside-the-fuk-1698936450] [https://youtu.be/lC4K2LRzA1I] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1aJJhDt81jI] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuwXnmzMrXE] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5c5eFL2-AM]

4/20/15 – ‘Major blow’ at Fukushima as robot loses control inside reactor – Moved 10 meters before failing – Max radiation readings more than doubled since 2012 – ‘Eerie footage’ shows orange glow in area with highest levels …

4/17/15 – CBS: Worst may not be over from Fukushima – “Effects of radiation have become much more severe – “Enormous decline” seen in animal species – “Striking drop-off … really dramatic impacts” – due to nuclear disaster …

4/01/15 – Times: “The worst possible result” revealed at Fukushima – Plant Chief: Centuries may pass before humans find a way to deal with molten cores – Top Official: “We have no idea” what to do, “the technology simply doesn’t exist … I can’t say it’s possible”…

3/30/15 – Tepco officials admit technology does not exist to decommission the (3) meltdown/melt-through nuclear reactors … maybe in 200 years the technology will be discovered Tepco scientists speculate … Fukushima Update (www.renseradio.com/) Researcher Yoichi Shimatsu

3/30/15 – AP: Melted fuel may have “dropped even beyond” the bottom of Fukushima plant – “China Syndrome” predicted by U.S. Gov’t analysis – IAEA Expert: Pools of corium beneath reactors are up to 2 stories high …

3/29/15 – Times: 200-year wait faced at Fukushima – Plant Chief: “No idea how” to decommission reactors … “the technology does not exist” – “No viable method” to deal with melted fuel; “So many uncertainties … we don’t have accurate information – Engineers declared problems “insurmountable” …

3/27/15 – Gov’t Report: Plutonium at 1,000,000 Bq/m3 was detected in ocean off Fukushima – “Contaminated waters will be transported rapidly to East” across the Pacific – This is “the most important direct liquid release of artificial radioactivity into sea ever known” – Scientists: “Remember, its not just Cesium that’s released” …

3/25/15 – Expert: Plutonium-241 from Fukushima nearly 70,000 times more than atomic bomb fallout in Japan – Gov’t Labs: Large areas of oceans contaminated by plutonium from events such as Fukushima; Build-up in biosphere expected; Considerable hazard to humans – Officials: Molten fuel now ‘particle-like’, contains ‘special’ nuclear materials …

3/20/15 – New images show all melted fuel is “gone” from Fukushima reactor – Experts: Molten core may have reached outer environment, can’t tell if fuel is still contained – Official: “We presume fuel still in containment vessel … but we need to check one day.

3/18/15 – Gov’t model shows Fukushima radioactive gas near Tokyo skyrocketed to 10,000,000,000 times normal levels soon after 3/11 – “Very high concentrations” recorded at all monitoring posts in northern hemisphere …

3/13/15 – Former Official: “40+ areas where extremely contaminated water flows directly into ocean” at Fukushima – Bloomberg: “4 years out, Fukushima reactors still spewing … Fishermen alleging for a while that radioactive water spilling into Pacific … astounding nobody at Tepco has gone to jail” …

3/10/15 – Video: Fukushima had “meltdown, melt-through, & melt-out within days of quake” – Gov’t: Analysis says containment vessel fails after fuel melts through barrier – Experts: Corium may have melted out to reactor building, prepare for radiation doses over 200,000,000 microsieverts/hour … [Note: 1 µSv (microSievert) = 1 millionth of a Sievert] [200 million µSv /hr = 200 Sv/hr] … Off the Chart …!

3/01/15 – TV: “Radioactive cover-up” at Fukushima – Experts believe “other sources of contamination” are flowing into ocean – Emergency hearing with plant officials – “”TEPCO decided long ago there was no need to monitor” the water with high-level radioactive materials …

2/25/15 – ‘Absolute Shock’: Nuclear waste on roof of Fukushima reactor flowing directly in ocean – Officials kept secret for past year & did nothing to stop it – Coming from highly radioactive debris on top of Unit 2; Gundersen: Reactor pressures got so high “it blew top off” – Amount of leakage ‘unknown’ – ‘Fallout far from over … International fury rising …

2/23/15 – Nuclear Engineer: New video appears to show molten corium that melted out of Fukushima reactor – “Some of it is still ooziing” – We’ve been talking about criticalities going on and causing continued heat for a long time now”… [Ref: (http://enenews.com/category/location/japan/fukushima-reactors)…

Ref: …[http://www.fukushimaupdate.yolasite.com] … [https://fukushimaupdate.wordpress.com] … Concerned yet …?…

[http://www.meetup.com/SOSFRSC] … [Save Our Surfers Fukushima Response Santa Cruz Meetup ]

[Footnote Reference Materials …

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=================================================================== [800 Trillion Bq of Fukushima Cesium-137]

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Published: June 7th, 2015 at 9:48 pm ET By ENENews

6/07/15 – Gov’t Expert: West Coast will soon be hit by 800 Trillion Bq of Fukushima Cesium-137 — Nearly equal to amount of fallout deposited on Japan — Levels in Pacific “higher than expected” — “Main body of surface plume has reached off coast of US” — Never slowed down while crossing ocean, contrary to prediction… Researcher Yoichi Shimatsu suggested this estimate to be conservative by a factor of [100 – 1000x] times…

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[http://enenews.com/govt-expert-west-coast-will-be-hit-800-trillion-bq-fukushima-cesium-137-equal-amount-fallout-deposited-japan-levels-pacific-higher-expected-main-body-surface-plume-reached-coast-never-slow]

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Shanghai Daily, Apr 30, 2015 (emphasis added): About 800 tera becquerel of Cesium- 137 is going to reach West Coast of North America by 2016, equivalent to 5 percent of the total Cs-137 amount discharged to the pacific ocean after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, [Michio Aoyama, a professor at Fukushima University] was quoted by Kyodo recently… However, Cs-137 levels detected at U.S. beaches were 1 to 2 bq per cubic meter, much lower than the safety limit… “Even if all the 800 tera bq Cs-137 have arrived, the radiation levels will stay at relatively low level that aren’t expected to harm human health,” said Aoyama.

1-2 Bq/m3 of Cs-137? The West Coast samples with Fukushima radioactive material have contained levels several times that amount. Off the coast of California, levels were 8.6 Bq/m3 (Cs-137 @ 6.9; Cs-134 @ 1.7). Levels on Vancouver Island were 7.2 Bq/m3 (Cs-137 @ 5.8; Cs-134 @ 1.4).

Aoyama’s estimate of 800 terabecquerels of Cs-137 reaching the West Coast is about the same as the total amount of Cs-137 estimated to have been deposited on Japan (1.0 petabecquerels or 1,000 terabecquerels, Source: TEPCO).

Michio Aoyama (Fukushima University) et al. (pdf), European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna, Austria, Apr 2015: [W]e and our collaborators continue to collect seawater samples in 2013 and 2014 in the North Pacific Ocean… The 137Cs activity through the end of September 2014 remain higher than expected, ca. 1000 Bq m-3, implying continued releases from the reactors… In the North Pacific Ocean main body of radiocaesium surface plume of which activity exceed 10 Bq m-3 had been travelling along 40 ºN, and reached International Date Line on March 2012… the radiocaesium plume was confined along 40 ºN when the plume reached International Date Line. A zonal speed of the radiocaesium plume was estimated to be about 8 cm s-1… After that, main body of radiocaesium surface plume continued to travel eastward and reached off west coast of US continent in August 2014 which implies the zonal speed of the radiocaesium plume was maintained at similar speed.

During a TV interview last year, Aoyama announced a somewhat different scenario — Al Jazeera Transcript: “Aoyama calculates that the radiation will slow, sink, and then harmlessly decay over decades, as Pacific currents turn most of it toward Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean. Prof. Aoyama: ‘So I can say that the people in the Western Coast are safe.’”

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===================================== [Toxin has spread all up and down West Coast … Seafloor littered with dead fish]

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TV: Scientists warning of mass die-off along California coast — Official: Seafloor littered with dead fish, washing up “as far as I could see” — Toxin has spread all up and down West Coast — Experts: “Very, very unusual… Really extraordinary”

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[http://enenews.com/tv-scientists-warning-mass-die-ocean-california-official-seafloor-littered-dead-fish-washing-could-reports-dead-seabirds-already-coming-toxin-spread-all-down-west-coast-experts-worried]

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KSBW, May 29, 2015 (emphasis added): Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary: Mass die-off could happen – “We are beginning with continuing coverage of that algae bloom in the Monterey Bay. Scientists say they’re seeing the highest levels of red tide in more than a decade, and they’re worried it will have grave impacts on marine life… [It] spreads all up and down the West Coast. Researchers in Santa Cruz have already recorded a mass die-off of anchovies and they expected more species could follow.”

KSBW, May 29, 2015: Scientists with the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary are predicting a mass die-off on the Central Coast… Up and down the West Coast, a large algal bloom of Pseudo-nitzschia is growing rapidly.

Chris Scholin, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), May 28, 2015: Very Toxic Algal Bloom in Monterey Bay — I wanted to let you know we have been following a very big bloom of Pseudo-nitzschia over the past couple of weeks here in the bay, and the amount of associated domoic acid is really extraordinary… Yesterday I noticed anchovies washing up on the beach in front of MBARI as far as I could see. There’s also lines of fish scales (anchovy?) marking the high tide line… One of the staff went snorkeling off the beach here, and saw the seafloor littered with anchovies… keep an eye out for seizuring sealions, sick birds, maybe sick otters… We think this is a very large event… Don’t eat shellfish or forage fish from MB — very nasty right now!!!

KSBW, May 29, 2015: “New tonight… researchers say a large algae bloom has taken over the Monterey Bay“… Jim Birch, MBARI: “We’re seeing these really high domoic acid levels in both locations, which is very, very unusual“… “Scientists with MBARI say the toxins from the algae bloom are going to have a chain reaction on marine animals, and they’ve already seen more dead seabirds on Central Coast beaches… It has started to really grow in the last few days.

KSBW, May 29, 2015: Raphael Kudela, a researcher at [UCSC] said the bloom… is being found from Washington to Santa Barbara… reports of dead seabirds are already coming in.

Monterey Herald, May 28, 2015: A mysterious neurotoxin… returned with a vengeance… “This is an unusual one,” said Raphael Kudela… “We haven’t seen a bloom this big in 15 years.”… why the toxin periodically blooms in Monterey Bay is still a marine mystery… scientists are getting closer to pinning down the reason for the blooms, with human impacts among the range of possibilities… Domoic acid is also suspected in a recent spate of bird deaths.

UC Santa Cruz, June 2, 2015: The toxin was first detected in early May, and by the end of the month researchers had detected some of the highest concentrations of domoic acid ever observed in Monterey Bay. “It’s a pretty massive bloom. The domoic acid levels are extremely high right now… the event is occurring as far north as Washington state. So it appears this will be one of the most toxic and spatially largest events we’ve had in at least a decade,” said Raphael Kudela, [UCSC] professor of ocean sciences.

MBARI, Jun 1, 2015: Researchers measured some of the highest concentrations of harmful algae and their toxin ever observed in Monterey Bay… During a normal [bloom] 1,000 nanograms per liter would be considered high… [It’s] reached 10 to 30 times this level. On May 27, 2015, very high levels… were found in dead anchovies… The researchers do not know if the anchovies died because of domoic acid poisoning.

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=============================================================== [Beaches full of dead baby sea lions off California]

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NOAA: Beaches full of dead baby sea lions off California… Many aborted fetuses — Garbage bags filled with animals along coast — Carts in freezer overflowing with bodies — Official: Pollution may well have had an effect… We deliberately didn’t test for it

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[http://enenews.com/noaa-beaches-full-dead-babies-california-many-aborted-fetuses-lot-death-scent-rotting-sea-lion-along-coast-garbage-bags-filled-dead-animals-govt-official-pollution-effect-deliberately-didnt-test]

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Yo! Venice, Jun 7, 2015 (emphasis added): The Sad Reality Of Starving, Dying Sea Lions On Venice… [A breeze] catches the scent of dead, rotting sea lion. The pungent stench lingers… It’s hard to ignore… The dead pups are small enough to be tied up tight in black plastic garbage bags. The larger adult sea lions lay out in the open.

Nick Fash, Heal the Bay: “It’s quite frightening… they wash up on our beaches weak and sickened and many cases dying, which is what you see in the bags.”

National Geographic, Jun 5, 2015: Number of Starving Sea Lions in California ‘Unprecedented’… raising questions about what the future holds after three years of mass strandings — More than 3,000 starving sea lion pups have washed up… And those are the lucky pups. The situation on California’s Channel Islands, where more than 90 percent of the U.S. sea lion population congregates to breed and nurse young, is even worse… “The few pups that have enough strength to leave the rookeries and make it to the mainland get recorded as strandings,” says NOAA’s Mark Lowry… “There’s a lot of death out there.”… When Lowry visited two of the main U.S. sea lion nurseries in April, he found a grim scene. In addition to beaches full of starving or dead pups, there were dead adult female sea lions and many aborted fetuses. “Adult females are taking a hit now,” he says. “What I’m predicting is that pup production—when they start being born in June—is going to be really low.”… This year, the most likely culprit is that warm water blob… But that blob wasn’t there during the earlier strandings, when oceanographic conditions looked much more normal. It’s also uncertain whether prey populations have died out… Sea lions are considered sentinel species, which means they’re used as indicators of ocean health—and the indications aren’t looking good.

2014-2015 Pacific Anomalies Science and Technology Workshop, May 6, 2015:

Conference Attendee (at 3:42:30): “I’m an ecotoxicologist… We know that pollution, chemical pollution of the oceans, is increasing… [In your research into the sea lion die-off] you should include data like chemical analysis and chemical pollution… We need to include this… to see if it has an influence to the decreasing of the populations.”

No response from any of the dozen Q&A panelists

6 minutes later — Sam McClatchie, NOAA Supervisory Oceanographer: “I have a comment to follow up on the idea that pollution may be important to the condition of the sea lions… In the modeling I did, the purpose was to… have a hypothesis as to what might be going on… We could have thrown in many other variables–and there’s always a temptation to do that… which probably should be discouraged. I’m not at all sure whether pollution had an effect — it might well have — and one could certainly test that. I just wanted to state that we deliberately didn’t test all the possible variables.”

From McClatchie’s sea lion presentation: “I’m going to talk about forage rather than sea lions, I’m not an expert in sea lions… They’re very unwell, rescue centers are overflowing… They’re very endearing, but they grow up to be rather a problem, they’re big animals… People get upset when they see them starving… [Centers] try to recover them [and] put them back out in the ocean. Unfortunately, the ocean hasn’t really changed, so we don’t know whether all these rescues are helping anything more than how we feel.”

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============================================ [Mysterious deadly black fungus being found on fish in Pacific Northwest]

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[http://enenews.com/mysterious-black-mold-being-found-fish-pacific-northwest-govt-concern-fukushima-radiation-could-be-involved-biologists-investigating-landbased-fungus-appearing-fish]

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5/25/15 – Mysterious deadly black fungus being found on fish in Pacific Northwest …

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5/21/15 – Nome Nugget (pdf), Nov 27, 2014- Mysterious deadly black fungus being found on fish in Pacific Northwest — Gov’t: There was some concern Fukushima radiation could be involved — Biologists investigating how this landbased mold is now appearing in ocean — Many reports of unusual rotting sores, growths, bumps, cancer … The Nome office of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game received several reports of tomcod with black lesions this year… ADF&G fishery biologists speculate that the lesions are a fungus… Specifically, black mold, commonly found in houses… What the pathology lab finds interesting is that this fungus is landbased and yet it is appearing on fish… Fish pathologists would like to receive as many samples as possible so that they may adequately research what exactly is infecting these fish, as well as its affect on humans. Until further notice, ADF&G recommends that fish with lesions should not be eaten due to possible human health concerns (CAPTION: DON’T EAT THIS— ADF&G biologists are investigating black lesions found on tomcods in the region. Until it is known what the lesions exactly are, the department recommends not to consume fish showing these symptoms)(http://enenews.com/mysterious-black-mold-being-found-fish-pacific-northwest-govt-concern-fukushima-radiation-could-be-involved-biologists-investigating-landbased-fungus-appearing-fish-many-reports-unusual-rotti)…

Mar 17, 2015: Brendan Scanlon, fishery biologist for North Slope Dept. of Fish & Game (pdf): Just a quick word on this fungus that people are seeing more and more of. It’s probably what’s called saprolegnia. It’s a water mold… It’s in the water at all times… healthy fish will swim around and never get it, but if the fish is stressed nutritionally or its immune system has been compromised… that gives a pathway for the mold to attack… It will eventually kill the fish… We saw something similar last summer. We had a very big die-off on the Kobuk River… we had thousands of dead chum salmon… and they had had presence of the same mold on them.

Feb 20, 2014:North Slope Federal Subsistence Regional Advisory Council (pdf), Dr. Jayde Ferguson, Alaska Dept of Fish & Game: The first confirmed report was from fish caught on Oct. 12, 2013… There was some concern that radiation from the Japanese disaster could be involved, so the North Slope biologist measured ionizing radiation in fish with a geiger-mueller counter and found that there was no elevated levels there… There was no food in the GI track and there was no fat or very little fat internally… The external lesions… corresponded to saprolegnia… it can act as a pathogen particularly in stressed fish because their immune system is depressed… I wanted to touch on a totally unrelated fungal case that is of interest to our lab because there’s not a lot known about it and it’s distinctly different from the saprolegnia in that it’s very black and large… there’s not a lot out in the literature on this black fungus… There’s just not a lot known about transmission or anything else, so we’re wanting to get a better idea of what’s going on…

Dr. Todd Sformo, Wildlife Biologist: I think the main concern was that if this mold is really present in the environment… it’s been reported a lot… why is the mold coming up being on fish at this point? So we have very few records in the north slope and Jayde mentioned the one… in the 1980s, so that was just one fish with that mold that we had recorded up until this point… why is it occurring now if it’s so prevalent in the environment?… We measured a number of the fish that were caught that had the mold and that did not have the mold and the size of the fish didn’t seem to matter at all… Ferguson: If we’re seeing it in juveniles that really does support some environmental issue… How many fish are affected?… It might not have an impact at the population level, but if there’s a large amount of fish that are affected, then that’s a different thing…

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Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium:

02-02-15 – Whitefish that had a bulged out eye ball [and] some type of growth around the cheekbone. Would like to know the cause of these observed abnormalities

12-10-14 – Whitefish… has a brownish moldy growth all over it’s body. We would like to know more about what is going on with our fish and why this is happening

10-24-14 – Trout appeared to have sores… rotting or decaying… [we] have never seen these sores before… We are still seeing a lot of fish with these kinds of conditions

06-12-14 – A codfish that was caught with a deep cut or sore on it was pulled in… We are not really sure what happened to this poor cod, but we think it is unusual

05-26-14 – Whitefish that had a growth… on its dorsal fin. Other fish were also caught with a similar condition… ADF&G: “This whitefish has… probably a neoplasm (cancer)”

02-17-14 – Fish… found with lesions on them… Other people also said they saw these bumps… elders who said they have seen fish with skin bumps like this once before… people are still worried because they are not sure what it is this time…. these bumps… were like puss. There are quite a few people who are worried…

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==================================================== ‘Major blow’ at Fukushima as robot loses control inside reactor…

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Published: April 14th, 2015 at 9:12 am ET By ENENews —‘Major blow’ at Fukushima as robot loses control inside reactor — Moved 10 meters before failing — Max radiation readings more than doubled since 2012 — ‘Eerie footage’ shows orange glow in area with highest levels (VIDEO)

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[http://enenews.com/major-blow-fukushima-robot-loses-control-inside-reactor-moved-10-meters-before-failing-max-radiation-levels-doubled-2012-video]

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Asahi Shimbun, Apr 11, 2015 (emphasis added): [A] robot sent to probe a highly radioactive containment vessel of the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant got stuck hours after it was deployed, dealing a major blow to decommissioning work… TEPCO has yet to determine why the device became immovable… the operators tugged on the robot’s cable and sent instructions for it to change shape, but it still would not move… The robot is essential to carrying out preliminary studies…

Reuters, Apr 14, 2015: Eerie footage from inside destroyed Fukushima reactor… [the robot has] lost control and become unconnected… Monday (April 13), Tepco decided to cut the wire to the robot and leave it in inside… Tepco has one more of the same type of robot…

AP, Apr 13, 2015: A 2 ½ minute edited compilation… showed steam wafting from inside the dark container [and] debris that looked like small rocks and metal parts. The images contained numerous white dots believed to be caused by gamma rays. [TEPCO said] the levels were significantly lower than anticipated… Without more data, it will be difficult to figure out exactly how to safely locate and remove the radioactive debris. Nuclear officials are expected to revise the plant’s decades-long decommissioning roadmap in the coming weeks, with more leeway and options in case earlier plans prove unfeasible.

NHK transcript, Apr 13, 2015: “At one point the reading shoots above 20 sieverts [actually 24.9 sieverts/hr].”

Kyodo News, Apr 7, 2015: In October 2012, radiation levels inside the containment vessel… measured up to 11 sieverts per hour.

NHK, Apr 12, 2015: TEPCO abandons robot in reactor… it stalled after moving about 10 meters… the robot has remained immobile and is not showing any sign of improvement. That’s forced the company to give up recovering the device.

NHK, Apr 13, 2015: The 2-minute 40-second-long clip shows mainly steam. It is thought that water at the bottom of the containment vessel is being evaporated by the heat of the melted nuclear fuel… [TEPCO] cut the remote control cable for the robot after giving up on its recovery on Sunday, and postponed a second survey with another robot.

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============================================= 06/30/2015 – Mutant fish with “grotesque tumor bubbling out of face” … Nearly 70% of males have female egg cells in testicles

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[http://enenews.com/mutant-fish-found-three-mile-island-nuclear-plant-grotesque-tumor-bubbling-face-officials-unrecognizable-pathogen-affecting-population-fisherman-waiting]

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At first she was surprised. Then she was disturbed. Now she’s a little alarmed. Each time a different batch of male fish with eggs in their testes shows up in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, Vicki Blazer’s eyebrows arch a bit higher.

In the latest study, smallmouth bass and white sucker fish captured at 16 sites in the Delaware, Ohio and Susquehanna rivers in Pennsylvania had crossed over into a category called intersex, an organism with two genders.

“I did not expect to find it quite as widespread,” said Blazer, a U.S. Geological Survey biologist who studies fish. Since 2003, USGS scientists have discovered male smallmouth and largemouth bass with immature eggs in several areas of the Potomac River, including near the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant in the District.

The previous studies detected abnormal levels of compounds from chemicals such as herbicides and veterinary pharmaceuticals from farms, and from sewage system overflows near smallmouth-bass nesting areas in the Potomac.

Those endocrine-disrupting chemicals throw off functions that regulate hormones and the reproductive system. In the newest findings, at one polluted site in the Susquehanna near Hershey, Pa., 100 percent of male smallmouth bass that were sampled had eggs, Blazer said.

A magnification of a cross-section view of a smallmouth bass’ testes that shows immature eggs, which are round circles on the monitor. (Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post)

With the mutant bass, she said, “we keep seeing . . . a correlation with the percent of agriculture in the watershed where we conduct a study.”

The fish that were dissected and analyzed by researchers swam downstream from farms and animal feed operations, where rains wash manure filled with various chemicals and hormones into streams and rivers.

It was a familiar finding. After the first intersex bass were found in the Potomac, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made a remarkable discovery in follow-up research at Blue Plains: “We found female germ cells in the testes of 82 percent to 100 percent of the male smallmouth bass and in 23 percent of the males from . . . largemouth bass,” the agency said.

It is a problem that extends well beyond the Chesapeake Bay region, which includes the District, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. Intersex bass were found by the USGS in the Columbia, Colorado and Mississippi river basins in 2009. Scientists have yet to identify a single chemical responsible for causing male fish to become part female.

In urban areas, estrogen products are often flushed down drains, contaminating water. In rural areas, natural animal hormones, much of it estrogen, is excreted in manure, which is spread on fields and washed into water by rain.

“I think it’s a complex mixture of chemicals,” said Blazer, who authored the study with nine researchers.

The findings published in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment coincided with a new report from the Environmental Integrity Project that says there is far more nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in the Chesapeake Bay than states and the Environmental Protection Agency have led residents to believe.

The report, “Murky Waters: More Accountability Needed for Agricultural Pollution in the Chesapeake Bay,” says monitoring of fertilizers and other chemicals used at farms, particularly large animal feed operations on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, is too lax under the bay cleanup plan that is being enforced by the EPA.

“Farmers should more carefully manage these manure and chemical fertilizers, and reduce them in areas where excessive amounts are being applied,” the report said. “Bay states will need better monitoring data in small sub-watersheds dominated by agriculture to accurately track pollution from farms.”

But the director of the EPA’s Chesapeake Bay Program said the report’s findings fall short because the report is based on information collected from the bay in 2009 and disregards a major event: the most aggressive bay pollution cleanup plan in history. The EPA’s so-called pollution diet started in December 2010.

The sites in the Susquehanna and Delaware rivers were studied in 2007, and the Ohio River was visited in summer the following year, Blazer said. The samples waited in a long line of items submitted for research until it was completed this year.

“It’s the way science works,” Blazer said. “It takes a long time for the chemical analysis. Labs that analyze chemicals are backed up.”

Chemical pollution in bay tributaries creates problems for smallmouth bass other than intersex fish. Catch rates of adult smallmouth bass in a stretch of the Susquehanna in Pennsylvania fell 80 percent between 2001 and 2005, according to a study by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. Smallmouth bass in the region were pocked with sores and lesions, likely from chemicals and parasites, a report by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation said.

Researchers say they lack the data needed to pinpoint the chemicals that might cause sex changes in fish because farmers are not required to immediately report the strongest chemicals used.

Democrats in the Maryland House and Senate sponsored a pair of bills in a legislative session last year that would have for the first time required growers to record their use of insecticides and herbicides and submit it to the state.

The pesticide-reporting rule stood to create a trove of data that scientists could draw from for studies on human and animal health, supporters said. Researchers said it would help focus research on chemical “hot spots,” the exact moment high concentrations of pesticides hit waters where vulnerable young fish are growing, Blazer said at the time of the legislation in March 2013.

But the requirement was amended after growers said the rule would be a major financial burden, and the state Department of Agriculture said it would cost $1.5 million for new employees to collect and input data. State lawmakers instead passed legislation to create a fund that would one day pay for mandatory pesticide reporting. Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) signed that legislation in May.

The fish is “an indicator that something else is really wrong,” Blazer said in support of stronger pesticide reporting. “What are these things doing to the natural environment? If we find these things in wild organisms, there’s a good chance they’re also affecting people.”

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————— Archived 2013 – 2014 ———————————————————-

====================== West Coast sea stars melt into mush, “just vaporized… it’s the change of my lifetime”

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NPR: West Coast sea stars melt into mush, “just vaporized… it’s the change of my lifetime” — “Ripping themselves apart… innards spilled out” — “Like the Matrix” — “That many species, that widespread… just scary” — “Makes me wonder, what’s next?” — ‘Possible’ Fukushima fallout is involved

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[http://enenews.com/npr-west-coast-sea-stars-just-vaporized-its-the-change-of-my-lifetime-that-many-species-that-widespread-i-think-is-just-scary-makes-me-wonder-whats-next]

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Published: January 30th, 2014 at 12:28 pm ET By ENENews

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NPR, Jan. 30, 2014 (Emphasis Added): […] Scientists first started noticing sick and dying sea stars last summer at a place called Starfish Point on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. […] Reports have since surfaced from Alaska to as far south as San Diego, raising questions of whether this die-off is an indicator of a larger problem. […] fat, multi-armed stars melted into piles of mush. […] about a dozen species of sea stars are dying along the West Coast. Sea star wasting has also been reported at sites off the coast of Rhode Island and North Carolina. But researchers say until they’ve identified the cause of the West Coast die-offs, they can’t confirm any connection between these outbreaks. […] Within a few hours, the sick stars started ripping themselves apart. […] Their innards spilled out and they died within 24 hours. As for the healthy looking stars […] they didn’t show symptoms anymore rapidly by being in the same tank with sickly stars. […] Some have asked whether radiation or tsunami debris associated with the Fukushima disaster could be behind this die-off. But scientists now see Fukushima as an unlikely culprit because the die-offs are patchy, popping up in certain places like Seattle and Santa Barbara and not in others, such as coastal Oregon, where wasting has only been reported at one location. […] there’s no evidence to entirely confirm or entirely rule out […]

The Oregonian, Dec. 27, 2013: The wasting starfish found in Oregon were discovered in April […] Summer surveys along Oregon’s coast didn’t find any dying starfish, but they happened before the biggest outbreaks, [Pete Raimondi, chairman of UC Santa Cruz’s ecology and evolutionary biology department] said. A team of researchers is planning to survey Oregon’s coast again in late January. Raimondi said he doubts Oregon starfish will somehow be isolated from the outbreak.

Ben Miner, biology professor at Western Washington University, Jan. 30, 2014: “It certainly suggests that those ecosystems are not healthy […] To have diseases that can affect that many species, that widespread is, I think is just scary.”

Laura James, scuba diver, Jan. 30, 2014: “There were just bodies everywhere. There were just splats. It looked like somebody had taken a laser gun and just zapped them and they just vaporized. […] People always ask me, ‘Do you see any big difference between now and when you started? […] I’ve seen some subtle differences, but this is the change of my lifetime. We’ve had small occasional die-offs here and there — It’s not like this, a mass mortality event. ”

Ian Hewson, Cornell microbial biologist, Jan. 30, 2014: “It’s like the matrix […] We have to be very careful that we’re not identifying something that’s associated with the disease but not the cause.”

KION, Jan. 8, 2014: I asked about the starfish disease and the dead sea life off our coast. [Dan Hirsch, University of California Santa Cruz] says it’s possible fallout could be involved but unless you do the science and find Fukushima radioactive elements, don’t make conclusions.

CTV, Jan. 4, 2014 — Ed Singer, dive shop owner: “It’s troubling because it makes me wonder, what’s next?”

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————— Archived 2013 ——————————————————————-

========================================= Millions of starfish ‘melt away’ from Alaska to California…

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Seattle TV: “Warning, video of the (melting) sea stars might be disturbing” — Scientists are “so concerned” about rapidly spreading die off on West Coast — Doubled in just a few days — Jellyfish numbers booming

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Published: November 2nd, 2013 at 10:39 pm ET By ENENews

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[http://enenews.com/seattle-tv-warning-video-of-the-melting-sea-stars-might-be-disturbing-scientists-are-so-concerned-about-rapidly-spreading-die-off-on-west-coast-doubled-in-just-a-few-days-jellyfish]

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Title: West Coast sea stars mysteriously dying off

Source: KING 5 News Seattle

Date: Oct. 31, 2013

Transcript Excerpts:

Jean Enersen, King 5 News: The Mysterious die off of West Coast sea stars is spreading.

Dennis Bounds, King 5 News: The so-called melting sea stars were first noticed in Vancouver, then in Seattle, and now in California. King 5 environmental specialist Gary Chittim has more on the rapidly spreading disease, and why scientists are so concerned. And a warning, the video of the sea stars might be disturbing. […]

Heidi Ebel, Seattle Aquarium: There is a huge unknown as to why there is currently a die off happening […]

Gary Chittim, KING 5 News: They’re in quarantine […] At least 3 of the aquarium’s captive sea stars were melting. […] And the scene out there is worse. Aquarium divers found a much more serious situation in the wild population along the Seattle waterfront. […] The estimates of infected sea stars has grown from 30% to 50%-60% in just a few days. And now biologists in California are finding it too.

Dr. Lesanna Lahner, Seattle Aquarium: Something is causing sea stars to be diseased along the coast at different locations. […]

Chittim: Is it a natural disease, is it triggered by environmental factors? […]

KOMO News, Nov. 1, 2013: “We’ve been hearing reports that jellyfish numbers are higher than normal in the Puget Sound [near Seattle],” [Bob Pacunski, a marine fish biologist with Fish and Wildlife] said. “I got a sense of that this year when I was out doing some personal fishing. It’s one of those boom or bust things.”

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Fukushima Daiichi Updates: Marine Environmental Ecosystem Collapse

Why are Researchers Predicting an [E.L.E.] Extinction Level Event for Pacific …???…

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