Safety Testing for Migrational Fish to Commence from Mid May
Edited Translation of article that appeared in The Hokkaido Shimbun (May 7th, 2011)
On May 6th, The Ministry for Fisheries notified all Prefectural governments and commercial fishing organizations along the Pacific coastline of Japan that safety testing for migrational fish such as Sanma (Pacific Saury) and Katsuo (Bonito), amongst others, for radiation will be implemented on a weekly basis with the cooperation of industry groups in each Prefecture.
Other fish to be included in the testing will be Saba (Mackerel), Iwashi (Sardines) and Sake (Salmon). They aim to confirm testing facilities are in place prior to the start of the fishing season for each type of fish.
In the event that safety testing indicates results higher than the established government standards for radiation, fishermen in each prefecture will be required to cease fishing operations. The fish would subsequently be tested once a week by a dedicated testing ship and commercial fishing could only resume if samples from three subsequent testing’s return lower values than the government’s established safety standards.
There have been concerns regarding the inconsistent approach to safety testing amongst Prefectures along the coastline because the testing is being conducted by private sector bodies and there is potential for gaps in testing results for fish that swim across a broad area.
Up until now, testing for radioactivity in the ocean and ocean bed has been conducted in 48 places within a 30km zone of the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Plant and off-shore Ibaraki Prefecture. From mid-May, the maximum testing area will be expanded to 300km offshore and by mid July, 105 places will have been tested. Tests will be carried out at various depths up to 100 meters.
On April 29th, radiation levels were detected from samples taken from the ocean bed. The Ministry for Science and Education believe that this was the result of radioactive water that was dumped into the ocean or airborne radiation settling on the ocean bed.
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