Vancouver Sun, Aug 13, 2015 (emphasis added): Four B.C. whale deaths in a week baffle scientists; Necropsies hope to provide answers as carcasses continue to pop up… four dead humpback whales in B.C. waters in a single week, just as Alaska is experiencing a surge of whale deaths, has scientists searching for a possible connection… 21 humpback and fin whales have been found dead in southeast Alaska during the past month, according to Paul Cottrell, Pacific marine mammal coordinator for Fisheries and Oceans Canada. “It’s definitely a pulse of deaths and something that we’re going to keep our eye on,” Cottrell said. No cause has been pinpointed for any of the deaths… “These samples are very important… to see if there’s any relationship — whether there’s a pathogen that may be causing this,” Cottrell said… Media reports have suggested [one] died after becoming entangled in fishing gear, but Cottrell said it is far too early to come to that conclusion… The scientists also noticed wounds on the whale’s body… “if there’s anthropogenic or human-caused things affecting the recovery, those are things that we want to know about.”
Read moreMore Than 25 Giant Whales Found Dead Up & Down Pacific NW coast
Oceans
Fukushima: ‘Trillions of becquerels of radioactive material still flowing into sea’ – Radioactive Seawater Will Circle The Globe
Interview with NHK journalist Morley Robertson, by the Center for Remembering 3.11, published Jun 30, 2012 (emphasis added): I begin with the radiation leakage. Radiation leakage exerts a long term effect on the environment. It contaminates our food chain, the groundwater and the ocean. And the contaminated seawater will circulate around the globe. We never know how much this will impact on the environment… We’ll never able to study such issues with empirical certainty… [Due to nuclear testing] we have already accumulated “hidden losses” of radiation damage… how much is the [Fukushima] cesium in relation to that?… I believe we should enjoy delicious food rather than worrying about the food. I enjoyed the town’s delicacy… I didn’t mind about how the beef was produced or where it came from. As long as it is tasty, it is no problem for me. With regard to radiation, I have become more optimistic. My hypothesis is that it’s no use worrying about radiation. For people in Fukushima, they have a lot to worry about their future, like damaged reputation… One reason why we have relied on nuclear plants is because we didn’t know about the facts… We need to face the facts… Rad-waste from the nuclear cycle is said to be unsolvable even after 2.5 million years.
US Gov’t Expert: Fukushima is always on people’s minds… a lot of concern and worry about radiation’s role in unusual marine deaths — Reports of shrunken or enlarged organs, black kidneys, sores on liver, slime in mouth, discolored skin — Mortality in intertidal zone like “we haven’t seen before” (VIDEO)
– US Gov’t Expert: Fukushima is always on people’s minds… a lot of concern and worry about radiation’s role in unusual marine deaths — Reports of shrunken or enlarged organs, black kidneys, sores on liver, slime in mouth, discolored skin — Mortality in intertidal zone like “we haven’t seen before” (VIDEO) (ENENews, Aug 11, 2015):
Gay Sheffield, NOAA Sea Grant (US Dept. of Commerce) marine advisory agent, July 2014 at 31:00 in (emphasis added): “I’m here in Bering Strait and I know there’s people [on this call] from all over the state, so they may not be familiar with some of our events. Right after Fukushima blew, we had, and still sort of have… an unusual mortality event with four species of seals in this region, all the way from Bristol Bay, up to Barrow (the Russian side), and all the way into Canada… A lot of people were curious, because we have never been able to find an infectious disease. A lot of people were concerned and worried that this Fukushima radiation had some effect… Fukushima is a big concern in this region… Fukushima is always on people’s minds… Here’s the cover of the Nome Nugget, that’s our newspaper here, and the top story was the lack of radiation monitoring was really annoying people — that we had nothing, nothing was being done. It was a concern all the time on people’s minds — with the seals, with the birds, and what not… it was making the front news of the paper. I hope that lets others know that the concern people have in Western Alaska… it’s a big thing.”
A long list of unusual events soon after Fukushima may explain why it’s “always on people’s minds” in Alaska:
Whales continue to die off in Pacific Ocean; scientists suspect Fukushima radiation at fault
– Whales continue to die off in Pacific Ocean; scientists suspect Fukushima radiation at fault (Fukushima Watch, July 30, 2015):
Whales have been dropping like flies in the Gulf of Alaska. Approximately nine whale carcasses were sited in late May and early June. Now, fisherman have spotted five more decomposing whales, a fin whale and four humpbacks, to add to the death toll.
The first two whale deaths reported in May sparked a flurry of attention from government agencies, including the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, NOAA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
Toxic bloom “basically eating the West Coast alive” — “Unusual deaths up and down the Pacific coast” — “All populations of marine mammals are way down” in areas — Experts: “Largest ever recorded… This is really unprecedented territory… Never seen an event like this”
Al Jazeera, Aug 1, 2015: The toxic algae blooms in the Pacific Ocean stretching from southern California to Alaska — already the largest ever recorded — appear to have reached as far as the Aleutian Islands, scientists say. “The anecdotal evidence suggests we’re having a major event,” said Bruce Wright, a scientist with the Aleutian Pribilof Island Association… “All the populations (of marine mammals) are way down in the Aleutians.”… the blooms are responsible for unprecedented closures of fisheries and unusual deaths of marine life up and down the Pacific coast… The discovery of nearly a dozen dead whales in the Gulf of Alaska near Kodiak also raised suspicion… Other die-offs of species have been reported along the Aleutian chain, stretching nearly 1,500 miles across the north Pacific.
USA Today: Millions of fish dead in Pacific Northwest — Ocean conditions have ‘gone to hell’ — Salmon covered in fungus, red lesions all over, big gaping sores — Extinction concerns, “it could be the end”
USA Today, Jul 31, 2015 (emphasis added): … weather in the Pacific Northwest is killing millions of fish…
AP, Jul 27, 2015: More than a quarter million sockeye salmon returning from the ocean to spawn are either dead or dying in the Columbia… wiping out at least half of this year’s returning population… [NOAA’s Ritchie Graves] says up to 80 percent of the population could ultimately perish.
Eureka Times Standard, Jul 29, 2015: With recent fish counting surveys on two Klamath River tributaries showing alarmingly low numbers… fisheries experts are growing increasingly concerned… The South Fork Trinity River is also showing a low presence of wild Chinook salmon adults… Fisheries experts are not certain why the tributaries have such a low salmon population…
AP: Unprecedented deaths along U.S. Pacific coast — Scientists: Mass die-offs of mammals, birds, fish… “No one’s sure what happened” — Gov’t wants Unusual Mortality Event declared — Samples “being tested for radionuclides from Fukushima”
– AP: Unprecedented deaths along U.S. Pacific coast — Scientists: Mass die-offs of mammals, birds, fish… “No one’s sure what happened” — Gov’t wants Unusual Mortality Event declared — Samples “being tested for radionuclides from Fukushima” (PHOTOS & AUDIO) (ENENnews, July 28, 2015):
AP, Jul 27, 2015 (emphasis added): Scientist says unexplained mass whale deaths off Alaska island may remain a mystery — Researchers may never solve the recent deaths of 18 endangered whales… 10 fin whales [and] eight humpback whales… scientists speculate the animals might have eaten something toxic… One test came back negative for one toxin that would be present in harmful algal blooms [Kate Wynne, a marine mammal specialist for the University of Alaska Sea Grant Program] said. “That’s my leading hypothesis,” Wynne said of an environmental toxin as a cause… “we never will find out what killed those whales, in my mind.” Other test results also are pending, however. A muscle-tissue sample is being tested for the possibility of radionuclides from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster… The deaths are an unusual occurrence, Wynne said. She said she’s never heard of anything similar occurring among large baleen whales in the U.S. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also is looking into the deaths of a slightly larger number of whales over a larger area. NOAA is requesting the deaths to be designated nationally as an unusual mortality event… NOAA spokeswoman Julie Speegle said. Along with the dead whales, dead birds including murres and shearwaters were reported… Tests showed the shearwaters had a high parasite count and were starving, Wynne said.
TV: Mystery ‘green goo’ decimating fishing on West Coast — “Like ectoplasm in Ghostbusters” — Experts: “About as severe as we could ever anticipate… Lot of unusual things going on” — “We’re not catching any fish… Never as bad as right now… Almost non-existent… Worst season ever”
Business in Vancouver (weekly newspaper), Jul 20, 2015 (emphasis added): When north coast fishermen set their nets on June 9 [they] pulled up thick blankets of slime… Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) has determined the slime to be a “goo” of phytoplankton… To make matters worse, as of mid-July, Skeena River sockeye – with a predicted run size of 3.5 million – were a no-show… as of mid-July, only 130,000 had returned… “As far as sockeye salmon… this is about as severe as we could ever anticipate,” said University of BC biologist Tony Farrell… warm water is believed to be changing the food web… Initial numbers show a much lower than expected sockeye run for both the Nass and Skeena rivers in northern B.C. The problem is most pronounced on Vancouver Island… Fishing bans have been implemented on several Vancouver Island rivers to protect trout, steelhead and salmon stocks. Closures in other parts of B.C. are also being implemented…
Many large marine mammals found dead around California, public warned to expect further strandings — FOX: “Very disturbing… I kept running into more… So unusual… Part of troubling trend” — ABC: “So many dead animals, it felt really tragic… Very peculiar… Fear there’s more to come”
Fox San Francisco transcript, Jul 6, 2015 (emphasis added): Several dead sea mammals found along Ocean Beach — In San Francisco, an unusual and sad sight at Ocean Beach today. That’s where several dead marine mammals washed ashore… This part of a troubling trend… Back in May, 3 dead whales washed up along San Francisco beaches… Joey DeRuy: “I took photos of it because it was so unusual“… But that wasn’t the end of his unusual beach sightings. DeRuy: “I kept walking and I kept running into more.” He said he spotted a small dead seal, then a much larger mammal that appeared to be an elephant seal. Several people walking by couldn’t help but stop and wonder what is behind the deaths… DeRuy: “It’s very disturbing, because I’ve never seen so many animals.”
KTVU tweet, Jul 7, 2015: Dead dolphin & seals are latest marine mammals to wash up on Bay Area beaches
Underwater Volcanoes Heat The Ocean
– New study – Underwater volcanoes heat the seas (Ice Age Now, June 27, 2015):
Summary: Vast quantities of ocean water circulate through the seafloor, flowing through the volcanic rock of the upper oceanic crust. A new study by scientists at UC Santa Cruz, published June 26 in Nature Communications, explains what drives this global process and how the flow is sustained.
Hydrothermal siphon’ drives water circulation through seafloor
- By Tim Stephens.
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_________________________________________________________________________
About 25 percent of the heat that flows out of the Earth’s interior is transferred to the oceans through this process, according to Andrew Fisher, professor of Earth and planetary sciences at UC Santa Cruz and coauthor of the study. Much of the fluid flow and heat transfer occurs through thousands of extinct underwater volcanoes (called seamounts) and other locations where porous volcanic rock is exposed at the seafloor.
“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)
Laguna Beach Independent, May 10, 2015 (emphasis added): Tide Pool Life Diminishes… an eerie new phenomenon, urchin balding, is attacking purple-spined sea urchins in Orange County tide pools, and local scientists are investigating this new mystery… tide pool conditions have worsened over the last year, said Jayson Smith, a Cal Poly Pomona marine biologist… Where once abalone, lobster and sea stars thrived, now sea hares, octopus, small fish, limpets and mussels seem to be leaving the scene, said Smith. The latest debacle leaves urchins with bald spots, where algae takes root, said Jennifer Burnaford, biology professor at Cal State Fullerton… Scientists have yet to understand the urchin-balding syndrome, said Smith… “Things are looking pretty poor right now,” he commented. Educators… report seeing fewer urchins at some tide pools and more empty shells. The once-prolific California blue mussels are also becoming increasingly sparse… “We appear to have more than just the sea-star wasting,” [Louise Thornton, chair of Laguna Ocean Foundation] said. “We appear to have something else going on. There’s something going on because the fish are disappearing.”
Unprecedented Mass Die Offs as Pacific Ocean “Turning Into a Desert” Off California Coast
– Unprecedented Mass Die Offs as Pacific Ocean “Turning Into a Desert” Off California Coast (SHFTplan, May 24, 2015):
“Ocean’s dying, plankton’s dying… it’s people. Soylent Green is made out of people. They’re making our food out of people. Next thing they’ll be breeding us like cattle for food. You’ve gotta tell them. You’ve gotta tell them!”
It was the dying cry of Charlton Heston in the creepy 1973 film Soylent Green… and it could resemble our desperate near future.
The ocean is dying, by all accounts – and if so, the food supply along with it. The causes are numerous, and overlapping. And massive numbers of wild animal populations are dying as a result of it.
Natural causes in the environment are partly to blame; so too are the corporations of man; the effects of Fukushima, unleashing untold levels of radiation into the ocean and onto Pacific shores; the cumulative effect of modern chemicals and agricultural waste tainting the water and disrupting reproduction.
A startling new report says in no uncertain terms that the Pacific Ocean off the California coast is turning into a desert. Once full of life, it is now becoming barren, and marine mammals, seabirds and fish are starving as a result. According to Ocean Health:
Read moreUnprecedented Mass Die Offs as Pacific Ocean “Turning Into a Desert” Off California Coast
Researchers Find ‘Dead Zones’ In Atlantic Open Waters
H/t reader squodgy:
“Could the fertiliser, pesticide and herbicide run off from intensive farming be a contribution to this?
It is known in UK that run offs cause algal blooms and fish loss in lakes, so why not the sea?”
Flashback:
– US Scientist: Methane In Gulf ‘Astonishingly High’, As Much As 1 Million Times The Normal Level:
CHICAGO (Reuters) – As much as 1 million times the normal level of methane gas has been found in some regions near the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, enough to potentially deplete oxygen and create a dead zone, U.S. scientists said on Tuesday.
– ‘Dead zones’ found in Atlantic open waters (The Watchers, May 15, 2015):
A team of German and Canadian researchers have discovered areas with extremely low levels of oxygen in the tropical North Atlantic, several hundred kilometres off the coast of West Africa. The levels measured in these ‘dead zones’, inhabitable for most marine animals, are the lowest ever recorded in Atlantic open waters. The dead zones are created in eddies, large swirling masses of water that slowly move westward. Encountering an island, they could potentially lead to mass fish kills.
Dead zones are areas of the ocean depleted of oxygen. Most marine animals, like fish and crabs, cannot live within these regions, where only certain microorganisms can survive. In addition to the environmental impact, dead zones are an economic concern for commercial fishing, with very low oxygen concentrations having been linked to reduced fish yields in the Baltic Sea and other parts of the world.
Read moreResearchers Find ‘Dead Zones’ In Atlantic Open Waters
The West Coast Ecosystem Is In A State Of Dire Collapse
– Starving sea lions now fight U.S. fishermen for food as West Coast ecosystem collapses (Natural News, April 29, 2015):
The West Coast ecosystem is in a state of dire collapse. The Southern California sea lion population is dwindling to new lows as countless hungry and emaciated pups wash ashore. There’s simply not enough food to go around for the mammals. Some believe the acidity of the waters is intensifying, not allowing certain species of fish to survive. The sudden decline in sardine biomass off the West coast is directly impacting larger animals in the food chain like the Southern California sea lions. A record number of these beautiful sea mammals have been rescued since 2013, when an unusual “mortality event” was declared. As the animals struggle to find food, some appear to be getting vicious and may now attack humans for food.
Read moreThe West Coast Ecosystem Is In A State Of Dire Collapse
A 1,000 Mile Stretch Of The Pacific Ocean Has Heated Up Several Degrees And Scientists Don’t Know Why
– A 1,000 Mile Stretch Of The Pacific Ocean Has Heated Up Several Degrees And Scientists Don’t Know Why (Economic Collapse, April 13, 2015):
According to two University of Washington scientific research papers that were recently released, a 1,000 mile stretch of the Pacific Ocean has warmed up by several degrees, and nobody seems to know why this is happening. This giant “blob” of warm water was first observed in late 2013, and it is playing havoc with our climate. And since this giant “blob” first showed up, fish and other sea creatures have been dying in absolutely massive numbers. So could there be a connection? And what is going to happen if the Pacific Ocean continues to warm up? Could we potentially be facing the greatest holocaust of sea life in the Pacific that anyone has ever observed? If so, what would that mean for the food chain and for our food supply?
For a large portion of the Pacific Ocean to suddenly start significantly heating up without any known explanation is a really big deal. The following information about this new research comes from the University of Washington…
Mass Whale Beaching Re-Ignites Quake Fears Among Japanese
– Mass Whale Beaching Re-Ignites Quake Fears Among Japanese (ZeroHedge, April 11, 2015):
Six days prior to Japan’s devastating 2011 undersea earthquake that killed over 18,000 people, around 50 melon-headed whales – a species that is a member of the dolphin family – beached themselves on Japan’s beaches. Now, 4 years later, and despite a lack of scientific evidence linking the two events, many Japanese took to social media in fear as the mass beaching of over 150 melon-headed whales on Japan’s shores has fueled fears of a repeat of the monster quake, which unleashed a towering tsunami and triggered a nuclear disaster.
The mass beaching of over 150 melon-headed whales on Japan’s shores has fueled fears of a repeat of a seemingly unrelated event in the country — the devastating 2011 undersea earthquake that killed over 18,000 people.
Despite a lack of scientific evidence linking the two events, a flurry of online commentators have pointed to the appearance of around 50 melon-headed whales — a species that is a member of the dolphin family — on Japan’s beaches six days prior to the monster quake, which unleashed a towering tsunami and triggered a nuclear disaster.
Read moreMass Whale Beaching Re-Ignites Quake Fears Among Japanese
‘The Blob’ In Pacific Ocean Might Be To Blame For California Drought, Erratic US Weather – Studies
H/t reader squodgy:
“The Blob.
Of course it won’t have any connection whatsoever to an accumulation of highly radioactive particles drifting across the ocean and settling off the California shelf.
It is coincidentally 4 years since the radioactive conveyor belt was kick started.
Just trying to join the dots, that’s all. I may be presumptious, but something has to explain it and Government lies.”
In my opinion HAARP is the main cause for the blob and the drought:
TPTB have planned the same fate for Europe. If they will push their plans through you will be able to walk through the Rhine.
Related info:
– ‘The blob’ in Pacific Ocean might be to blame for California drought, erratic US weather – studies (RT, April 10, 2015):
Coined “the blob,” a massive patch of warm water off the US West Coast is contributing to warmer-than-average drought conditions in states like California, in addition to lower temperatures on the US East Coast, according to two new reports.
The blob — measuring about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) in diameter and 300 feet (91 meters) deep — is currently positioned against the West Coast. It is about 2 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit (1 to 4 degrees Celsius) above normal average temperature. Climate scientist Nick Bond was first to call the warm weather anomaly “the blob” nearly a year ago.
“In the fall of 2013 and early 2014 we started to notice a big, almost circular mass of water that just didn’t cool off as much as it usually did, so by spring of 2014 it was warmer than we had ever seen it for that time of year,”said Nick Bond of the University of Washington-based Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean, a joint research center of the school and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
13 baby gray whales and 55 dolphins found dead on West Coast — “Rash of dead humpback whales in Oregon” — “Corpses of sea lions, birds, sea turtles decomposing” — Mysterious deaths probed by gov’t — “Fear for whales encountering ‘radiation hot spots’…Volunteers trained about dangers of radiation”
New Mexico St. Univ., Mar 15, 2015 (emphasis added): What’s Killing Baja’s Marine Animals? Dead gray whales and dolphins. Corpses of sea lions, birds and sea turtles decomposing on the beach. Since the beginning of the year, the coasts of Baja California have been the scene of multiple discoveries of dead marine animals. The latest find was reported last week… 55 dead dolphins and 4 sea lions… [The gov’t will] probe the reasons for the mysterious deaths. In mid-January… 550 dead sea birds and 4 dead sea lions near San Felipe. Another zone of mystery surrounds the Laguna Ojo de Liebre… where 150 dead sea turtles were discovered at the end of January. About two weeks earlier, 14 lifeless gray whales (13 babies and 1 adult) and 16 dead sea turtles were found in the same area… Mexican authorities hypothesized that sea turtles… could be succumbing to hypothermia [and] baby gray whales were dying from lack of nourishment… [They] migrate to Baja California from northern Pacific waters…
Gov’t Report: 1,000,000 Bq/m3 of Plutonium was detected in ocean by Fukushima — “Contaminated waters transported rapidly to the east” across Pacific
Comparison between modelling and measurement of marine dispersion, environmental half-time and 137Cs inventories after the Fukushima Daiichi accident, Pascal Bailly du Bois (IRSN), Pierre Garreau (IFREMER), Philippe Laguionie (IRSN), Irène Korsakissok (IRSN), 2014: Contamination of the marine environment following the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant (FDNPP) represents the most important influx of artificial radioactivity released into the sea ever recorded… The direct liquid releases from FDNPP represent the largest influx of artificial radioactivity into the sea ever occurring over a short period of time on a small spatial scale… Although controlled releases of liquid effluent from the Sellafield reprocessing plant can be compared in terms of total quantities, they have occurred over several years (1970-1980) instead of days, weeks and months as in the case of the FDNPP accident… [W]hatever the detailed current direction at the time of the accident is, water mass fluxes were governed by the generally strong Kuroshio and Oyashio currents that are stable at this scale… Contaminated waters will be transported rapidly to the east… Contamination of the marine environment following the accident at the FDNPP represents the most important direct liquid release of artificial radioactivity into the sea ever known…
Dead sea creatures ‘covering the sand with a sea of red’ on California beach; Witnesses: ‘Bazillions of crab-like things washed ashore …’
Orange County Register, Feb 25, 2015 (emphasis added): Tiny crabs still coming in waves off Balboa Island — Thousands… created a rim of red along the shoreline, scattered on the sand along the sleepy seaside of Balboa Island in Newport Beach… Experts say the crabs – which are about 1-to 3-inches long – haven’t been seen in the area for decades… The pelagic crabs are the latest in a year of odd sightings… glow-in-the-dark organisms called pyrosomes washed ashore in September, and before that a blue, jellyfish-like creatures…
Former Official: “More Than 40 ‘Hotspot’ Areas Where Extremely Contaminated Water Flows Directly Into The Ocean” At Fukushima
Bloomberg, Columnist William Pesek, Mar 10, 2015: Four years out, Fukushima reactors still spewing — Fishermen trawling the waters off Japan’s eastern coast have been alleging for a while that radioactive water was again spilling into the Pacific from the Fukushima power plant… On Feb. 24 [Tepco] admitted those suspicions were justified. And it turns out that Tepco knew about this latest radioactive leak since last May — and the giant utility said nothing for almost a year. In the 15 days since Tepco finally confessed, have investigators raided its Tokyo headquarters? Have regulators demanded that heads roll? Has Prime Minister Shinzo Abe used his bully pulpit to demand accountability?… Tokyo was a scary place to be in March 2011 amid Fukushima’s triple meltdown. Most frightening, though, was the utter lack of transparency from the authorities… Even in the context of Japanese cronyism, it’s astounding that nobody at Tepco has gone to jail… At the very least, Tepco’s senior management should be fired without pensions and face charges from prosecutors…
Disease outbreak on US West Coast is largest ever seen in any population of animals – Tens of millions dead – Scientists believe radiation from Fukushima to blame
– Expert: Disease outbreak on US West Coast is largest ever seen in any population of animals — Tens of millions dead — Official: Gov’t needs to declare emergency before extinction occurs — Many scientists believed radiation from Fukushima to blame (VIDEO) (ENENews, March 14, 2015):
McClatchy, Mar 13, 2015 (emphasis added): With millions of starfish dying all along the West Coast [and] disintegrating into mush [Congressman Denny Heck wants NOAA] to declare “sea star wasting syndrome” an emergency before the starfish becomes extinct.
National Geographic, Jan 23, 2015: [It’s killed] tens of millions of sea stars.
Cornell Prof. Drew Harvell, sea star researcher, Mar 13, 2015: “There has never been an outbreak of disease in natural populations of animals that I know that’s been this large.”
Newport Beach official Michelle Clemente: “All of our area’s sea stars have disintegrated”
Gov’t: It’s getting “even worse” on West Coast — Experts say over 35,000 baby sea lion could be dead, “this phenomenon unprecedented in scale”
NOAA, Feb 18, 2015 (pdf): We are seeing an unusually large increase of California sea lion pups stranding [that’s] intensified over the last few weeks… it is very difficult to pinpoint what is causing the increase… [There are] warmer waters than usual, but an official El Nino has not yet been declared… [We are] preparing for the worst… health trends of marine mammals [inform] us about the health of the entire ecosystem… if the stranding numbers exceed the 2013 UME [facilities will be unable to] accept more animals… animals may be left on the beach [or] humanely euthanized.
Malibu Surfside News, Mar 3, 2015: The number of animals that can be rescued and rehabilitated is very small compared to the total number of pups in distress… in 2013, Federal officials estimated that 70 percent of the total number [~35,000 out of 50,000 newborns] may have died and experts say that the numbers may be even higher this year.
Report: Fukushima fallout detected in U.S. fish — Dose equal to samples caught 100 miles from plant — Persistently high levels detected in marine life offshore “not anticipated… orders of magnitude” more than expected — “Measurements needed… along predicted plume trajectory”
Excerpts from ‘Radiological Dose Rates to Marine Fish from the Fukushima Daiichi Accident: The First Three Years Across the North Pacific’, includes authors from Japan’s National Institute of Radiological Sciences and Oregon St. Univ., 2015 (emphasis added):
- A more complete record is emerging of radionuclide measurements in fish [from] across the Pacific… Fish 100–200 km east of [Fukushima], coastal fish in the Aleutian Islands… and trans-Pacific migratory species, all had increased dose rates as a consequence of the FDNPP accident.