Friday, March 18, 2016

Fukushima and the Anthropocene


Enenews has a disturbing headline with photos:

Local Official: Alarm over very sick animals washing ashore in Alaska — Fish bleeding from face, bloody entrails coming out of body — “We are very much aware of the possibility of radiation from Fukushima affecting ocean life” (PHOTOS). Enenews. http://enenews.com/local-official-alarm-very-sick-animals-washing-ashore-alaska-fish-bleeding-face-bloody-entrails-coming-body-concerned-fukushima-radiation-affecting-ocean-life

I've posted the information below before, but its helpful to reiterate the data every time more evidence comes to light revealing the collapsing North American Pacific coastal eco-system:


In 2011 and unusual mortality events were reported for Alaskan walruses, seals,[i] and polar bears,[ii] all of which were found to be “suffering from hair loss, skin sores, and unusually lethargic behavior.”[iii] No cause was ever identified. Unusual mortality events for California sea lions were reported by the NOAA in 2013,[iv] escalating to catastrophic losses in 2015.[v]

Dolphin populations in California also experienced significant mortality events in 2013 and were found to have significantly impaired immune systems.[vi] Sardines in the Pacific Northwest experienced also experienced a significant reduction in numbers in 2013, with the November population estimate of 378,000 tons constituting a steep drop from the 1.5 million tons estimated in 2000. 378,000 tons represented the lowest reported in over ten years.[vii]

The King Salmon population in Alaska declined 73 percent from 2011 to 2012 (Jim Carlton, Wall Street Journal (August 4, 2012) p. A3). In 2014, starfish were afflicted with a devastating and inexplicable wasting disease up and down the coast of North America.[viii] An unusual mortality event was reported for Alaskan whales in 2015.[ix]

North American Pacific coast sea birds have also been impacted. Adverse mortality events have afflicted murres and shearwater. Autopsies indicated the shearwaters had a high parasite count and were starving.[x]Auklets living along entire north American pacific coast have also experienced a steep population declines that were described as “just massive, massive, unprecedented” by Julia Parish, a seabird ecologist at the University of Washington who oversees the Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team.[xi]

Land animals in Alaska and California also experienced significant and inexplicable population declines. Western Arctic caribou experienced a decline of 27 percent between 2011 and 2013.[xii] Monarch butterfly populations that migrate to a specific area in Mexico experienced a record low in 2013, with their numbers contained by 2.9 acres in 2013, compared to 12 acres between 2003 and 2012.[xiii] In 2013 California race horses were afflicted with a mysterious affliction that caused them to drop dead suddenly.[xiv]

Bees in California also experienced a significant population decline in 2013: “A mysterious malady that has been killing honeybees en masse for several years appears to have expanded drastically in the last year, commercial beekeepers say, wiping out 40 percent or even 50 percent of the hives needed to pollinate many of the nation’s fruits and vegetables.”[xv] The moose population, already in decline prior to Fukushima, fell still further between 2010 and 2014 with one population in Minnesota cut in half between 2010 and 2014.[xvi]



SOURCES

[i] National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, “Northern Pinnipeds (Ice Seals and Walruses) Unusual Mortality Event (UME) Q&A,” NOAA, June 25, 2012, accessed June 27, 2012, http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/protectedresources/seals/ice/diseased/ume_qa0612.pdf.

[ii] “Fur Loss, Open Sores Seen in Polar Bears,” NBC News, April 8, 2012, accessed April 9, 2012, http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/04/08/11083494-fur-loss-open-sores-seen-in-polar-bears.

[iii] Anna Rose MacArthur, “Pacific Walrus Removed from Unusual Mortality Event,” Knom Radio Mission, May 14, 2014, accessed May 16, 2014, http://www.knom.org/wp/blog/2014/05/14/pacific-walrus-removed-from-unusual-mortality-event/.

[iv] National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association “California Sea Lion Unusual Mortality Event in California,” NOAA Fisheries 2013, accessed January 1, 2014, http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/health/mmume/californiasealions2013.htm

[v] S. E. Smith, “Stranded Sea Lion Pups Fall Victim to California's 'Ocean Deserts,'” The Guardian, May 8, 2015, accessed May 9, 2015, http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/08/california-stranded-sea-lions-pacific-ocean.

[vi] Christine Dell’Amore, “Dolphins, Other Marine Mammals Weakened by Pollution, Scientists Say,” National Geographic, April 12, 2013, accessed April 13, 2013, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/04/130412-diseases-health-animals-science-environment-oceans/.

[vii] “Pacific Sardines: Critical Food Source in Steep Decline,” The Pew Charitable Trusts December 11, 2013, accessed December 13, 2013, http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/fact-sheets/2013/12/11/pacific-sardines-critical-food-source-in-steep-decline.

[viii] Ashley Ahearn and Katie Campbell, “Scientists Zero in on What’s Causing Starfish Die-Offs,” PBS, June 17, 2014, accessed June 18, 2014, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/scientists-zero-whats-causing-starfish-die-offs/.

[ix] Rachel D’Oro, “Scientist: Whale Deaths off Alaska Island Remains Mystery,” ABC News, July 27, 2015, accessed July 28, 2015, http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/scientist-whale-deaths-off-alaska-island-remains-mystery-32718241.

[x] Rachel D’Oro (AP), “Scientist: Whale Deaths off Alaska Island Remains Mystery,” ABC News (Jul 27, 2015), http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/scientist-whale-deaths-off-alaska-island-remains-mystery-32718241

[xi] Craig Welch, “Why Are So Many Auklets, from California to Canada, Starving?,” National Geographic, January 24, 2015, accessed January 25, 2015, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2015/01/150123-seabirds-mass-die-off-auklet-california-animals-environment/.

[xii] “Western Arctic Caribou Herd Numbers 235,000,” Alaskan Fish and Wildlife, July 5, 2015, accessed July 7, 2015, http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=671.

[xiii] Lincoln Brower and Homero Aridjis, “The Winter of the Monarch,” The New York Times, March 16, 2013, accessed March 17, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/16/opinion/the-dying-of-the-monarch-butterflies.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130316&_r=0.

[xiv] Joe Drape, “California Examines Puzzling Trend of Horses’ Sudden Deaths,” The New York Times, April 10, 2013, accessed April 11, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/11/sports/california-examines-puzzling-trend-of-horses-sudden-deaths.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&smid=tw-nytimes&_r=0.

[xv] Michael Wines, “Mystery Malady Kills More Bees, Heightening Worry on Farms,” The New York Times, March 28, 2013, accessed March 29, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/29/science/earth/soaring-bee-deaths-in-2012-sound-alarm-on-malady.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130329&_r=0.

[xvi] Elizabeth Barber, “Moose Die-Off is Massive, and a Mystery to Scientists,” The Christian Science Monitor October 15, 2013, http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/1015/Moose-die-off-is-massive-and-a-mystery-to-scientists-video.

2 comments:

  1. I wonder what is happening to unborn human children now? And to toddlers? There are a lot of people on the West Coast but very little information. If I were a doctor out there I would be doing a lot of observing and noticing. But I might keep what I saw to myself, I suppose. [I read recently that twelve holistic doctors (MD's) had been murdered or suicided over a short time period, so doctors have to take some care.] My guess is that there is a silent plague going on now for some time involving nuclear radiation from all sorts of sources and not just Fukushima and Chernobyl. Well, vets and doctors need to get after the pharmaceuticals for a vaccine for mystery which seems quite potent. No more 'I love a Mystery' on the West Coast,

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    1. I know too many people who were under 50, two in their 20s, who have been diagnosed with aggressive cancer in Az and CA since 2011

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