“Mass death” of species found around Fukushima nuclear plant — Gov’t: They “seem to have disappeared… Little or no reproductive success… It is evident biota around the power plant has been affected since the nuclear accident”
By ENENews
February 10th, 2016
Yomiuri Shimbun, Feb 7, 2016 (emphasis added): The National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES) revealed that the total number of sessile species, such as barnacles and snails, has been decreasing significantly along the coast within 10 kilometers south of the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant… [T]here is the possibility that the mass death of sessile species was influenced by radioactive materials released into the sea…
National Institute for Environmental Studies, Feb 2016 (underlining by NIES): NIES has conducted field surveys in the intertidal zones of eastern Japan to investigate the ecological effects of the serious accident at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant… The number of intertidal species decreased significantly with decreasing distance from the power plant… no rock shell (Thais clavigera) specimens were collected near the plant, from Hirono to Futaba Beach (a distance of approximately 30 km) in 2012. The collection of rock shell specimens at many other sites hit by the tsunami suggests that the absence of rock shells around the plant in 2012 might have been caused by the nuclear accident in 2011. Quantitative surveys in 2013 showed that the number of species and population densities in the intertidal zones were much lower at sites near, or within several kilometers south of, the plant than at other sites… especially in the case of Arthropoda (e.g., barnacles). There is no clear explanation for these findings, but it is evident that the intertidal biota around the power plant has been affected since the nuclear accident…
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