Officials in Hokkaido, Japan have dismissed reports linking the deaths of tons of fish along the shoreline with the release of treated water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Last week, around 1,200 tons of dead sardines and mackerels washed ashore in Hakodate city, leaving marine experts puzzled and the city administration inundated with inquiries and requests for volunteer help.
No official statement has been released by Tokyo, but a report in the British newspaper Daily Mail blamed the fish deaths on water discharged from the decommissioned Fukushima nuclear plant. However, the fisheries agency has expressed concern about the unsubstantiated information, emphasizing that no abnormalities were found in water-monitoring surveys.
According to the Hokkaido Research Organisation’s Hakodate fisheries experiment station, massive numbers of fish can wash ashore due to sudden changes in temperature or while fleeing from predators like dolphins. The dead fish found on the beach were likely part of a school migrating south at this time of year, according to the station.
City officials have been using heavy machinery to dispose of the dead fish from the coastline, a process that is expected to continue until the end of December due to the sheer volume. Photos of the incident showed thousands of tons of sardines and mackerels on the shore, creating a sliver blanket along a stretch of beach about a kilometer long.
In August, the Tokyo Electric power company released thousands of tons of treated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant as part of the decommissioning process. The government has defended the action, stating that no radioactive anomalies were found in the released water.