Marine Biologist: All Sea Stars Along West Coast Of North America Could Be Wiped Out

– Marine Biologist: All the sea stars along west coast of North America could be wiped out — Some developing ‘bald spots’; “Others look completely healthy except for guts coming out” — ‘Speculation’ it could be related to Fukushima (ENENews, Dec 12, 2013):

Times Colonist, Dec. 10, 2013: […] The mysterious illness has the potential to wipe out all the sea stars along the west coast of North America, said Paula Romagosa, a marine biologist and curator at the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre in Sidney. “Events like this have happened before but on a much smaller scale. We’ve never seen one of this magnitude.” The die-off of sea stars was first detected in August in small pockets in Howe Sound, off West Vancouver and in Indian Arm. Since then, the extensive die-off has been reported along the shoreline from Alaska to California. […] The virus affects the animals in different ways. A sea star at the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre showed it was unwell by developing a bald spot. […] Others look completely healthy except for their guts coming out in strings. […] There is speculation that the die-off could be due to water-borne radiation originating from the Fukushima nuclear plant. Romagosa said that doesn’t sound likely because the first place it was seen was in a remote area of Indian Arm and not the west coast. […] “It could be chemicals that are released into the water from pulp mills or factories” […]

Chemicals released into Vancouver waters could be causing this unprecedented die-off stretching from Mexico to Alaska? Though the leading edge of Fukushima’s radioactive particles may be just now arriving on North American shores via the ocean, see the list of links below for data on airborne contamination on the west coast that occurred soon after 3/11.

Cedar Street Times, Dec. 7, 2013 (emphasis added): Here in Pacific Grove, [Pacific Grove resident John Pearse, a Professor Emeritus from the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz] reports that divers have spotted diseased sea stars in the kelp forest near Hopkins Marine Lab. “They recently told me that there are almost no stars left except bat stars that seem to be more resistant,” states Pearse. […] In the face of speculation that […] Fukashima* radioactivity may be affecting our area, Pearse says no […] “It is my understanding that there has been little or no detectable increase in radioactivity on our coast since that disaster. Yes, some fish that swim across the ocean have detectable radionuclides (cesium-137) that almost certainly came from Fukashima*, but I don’t think they have been detected in intertidal animals such as sea stars (along our coast).”

*If the author is going to write about this topic, perhaps learning the proper way to spell Fukushima would be a good place to start. This article was linked to by the UC Santa Cruz website discussing the wasting syndrome, or else it would likely have gone unnoticed.  It is the only update to UCSC’s ‘Articles, Publications, and News Broadcasts‘ section during December, even though several high profile reports have been published (KING 5 News, SF Chronicle).

According to Pearse, the sea star population in the kelp forest at Stanford’s Hopkins Marine Lab in Monterey Bay has been nearly wiped out, and that “it is my understanding that there has been little or no detectable increase in radioactivity on our coast since that disaster.”

A Google search can enhance someone’s ‘understanding’ a great deal — how about ‘Kelp’, ‘Fukushima’, ‘California’.

Here are some highlights for anyone who prefers evidence over someone’s ‘understanding’:

• Study: Fukushima radiation plume contacted North America at California ‘with greatest exposure in central and southern California’ (Source)
• California had 2,500 Bq/kg of iodine-131 in seaweed — Over 500% higher than other tests in U.S., Canada (Source)
• 40,000,000 Bq of iodine-131 in a single bed of kelp off California — Amount most likely larger (Source)
• Study Author: California iodine-131 probably double or triple what we reported (Source)
• California Newspaper: Coastal fish possibly affected by radioactivity — “I would assume it’s there” in the plants and animals off California’s coast says researcher (Source)
• Local TV: Radiation in kelp could create a health concern for California seafood lovers — “The question we all want answered, how dangerous is this to you and me?” (Source)
• L.A. Daily News Column: Radioactive kelp is California’s “most under-reported story of the spring” — “It’s been somewhat radioactive off-and-on for months” (Source)

Researching the Fukushima contamination in the Pacific Ocean that’s being transported to the North American west coast via the North Pacific Current is an opportunity for additional understanding. For starters try this: Study shows Fukushima nuclear pollution becoming more concentrated as it approaches U.S. West Coast — Plume crosses ocean in a nearly straight line toward N. America — Appears to stay together with little dispersion (MODEL) and this: Experts: Fukushima contamination data wrong, may be 1,000% of levels reported by gov’t and Tepco — 60 billion becquerels of strontium and cesium claimed to be flowing to ‘outer ocean

See also:

– Large Die-Off Of Alaska Seabirds From Disease Never Found Before In State History

– CNN: The Pacific Has Seen Its Fair Share Of Weird Recently – Bay In California ‘Now A Massive Soup Bowl’ – ‘Miles Of Anchovies, Mountains Deep’

– Study: Dead Sea Creatures Covered 98% Of Seafloor Last Year 150 Miles Off California Coast – Unprecedented!!!

– Weird Things’ Happening On California Coast: Unknown Toxic Algae Blooms Proliferating; Unprecedented Mass Of Oxygen-Poor Water – Mystery Strandings Of Large Squid Covered Miles And Experts Baffled … ‘Essentially Killing Themselves’

– San Francisco Chronicle: Fukushima Radiation Possible Culprit In Huge Starfish Die Off From Mexico To Alaska

– California: Threat Of ‘Dead Zone’ Developing Off Sonoma Coast

– Sea Star Die-Off Worse Than Thought; Now Over Entire West Coast; Going From One Species To Others

– Whale Expert Near Vancouver: In 30 Years I’ve Never Ever Seen This Kind Of Behavior, ‘They Must Sense This Is A Safe Place To Be’

– NBC Nightly News: “Another highly troubling report about what’s going on in the Pacific” — Millions of starfish ‘melt away’ from Alaska to California — Expert: Fukushima radiation ‘not ruled out’ as factor in epidemic — Very, very different than anything seen before

– CBS News: 100s Of Whales In Bay On California Coast – Experts: ‘A Once-In-A-Lifetime Chance … Unheard Of, It’s Unbelievable’

– Expansive ‘Death Zone’ Of Birds On Alaska Island, Perhaps Thousands Washed Ashore

– CBC News: Something Very Odd Is Happening In Pacific; Sea Creatures Acting Strangely

– Rarely Seen Sea Creature Normally Living At The Depths Of The Ocean Caught Off Miami Beach

– Unprecedented Concentration Of Sea Creatures Near Shore In California

– ‘Lots Of Sea Birds Washing Up Dead’ In Alaska (Photos)

– Alaska Island Shows Impacts From Fukushima – ‘Significant Cesium Isotope Signature’ Detected – Scientists Anticipate More Marine Life To Be Impacted As Ocean Plume Arrives

– Hundreds Of Sea Turtles Wash Up Dead On Pacific Coast – Dogs ‘Stopped Breathing And Died Almost Instantly’ When Eating Them

– Scientists ‘Especially Worried’: ‘We Don’t Know How The Pathogen Is Doing This’ – Sea Star Broke In Half, Walked Away, Then Turned To Goo

– Starfish Turn To ‘Slime’ Along Pacific Coast … ‘We’re Talking About A Loss Of Millions And Millions’

– Fishermen Boats Surrounded By Hundreds Of Dead (Nearly Extinct) Eastern Pacific Green Sea Turtles

– (UPDATED) ‘Extraordinary’ string of whale and dolphin encounters off Canada’s Pacific coast “could have a deeper meaning” — Indigenous Academic Adviser: “We see them as our relatives, as ancestors… It’s for the better of all of us to listen” (VIDEO)

– Sea Star ‘Ripping Itself Into Pieces’ – Like A Horror Movie – AP: Deaths From Alaska To S. California – Prof: ‘None Of Us Had Ever Seen Anything Like This Before’

– Sardine Population Plummets Along U.S. West Coast – ‘Canadian Pacific Fishermen Catch No Sardines In 2013? – AP: Collapse Of Species Feared

– West Coast Sea Stars Mysteriously Dying Off (KING 5 News Video): ‘Why Scientists Are So Concerned About The Rapidly Spreading Disease’

– Something Is Killing Life All Over The Pacific Ocean

– Head Researcher “Is Sounding The Alarm’ Over Dramatic Changes In Pacific Northwest Killer Whales

– 28 Signs That The West Coast Is Being Absolutely Fried With Nuclear Radiation From Fukushima