A broken ocean: The aftermath of Fukushima

Wednesday, October 30, 2013 by: Sue Woledge
Tags: Fukushima aftermath, broken ocean, environmental pollution

(NaturalNews) While mainstream media appears to have almost forgotten that the Fukushima disaster ever happened and the aftermath of the damaged nuclear power plant continues to be downplayed by government officials, reports of spreading radiation, sick and dying marine life and contaminated food are rife.

A report in the Newcastle Herald recently shared the story of an Australian sailor expressing concern about the state of the ocean after recently sailing from Melbourne in Australia to Osaka, Japan, and then from Osaka to San Francisco.

The sailor reports that, during the journey from Melbourne to Osaka, the lack of sea birds and fish made the journey eerie and a very different experience from the same journey ten years prior. He tells how, a decade ago, seabirds followed and roosted on his boat, their constant noise being heard as they soared overhead, swooping and diving for fish; he explains that the more recent journey was quiet, the only noises being the wind, the water and the sails.

He expresses concern over the lack of fish on the first leg of his recent voyage, comparing the easy catch of a large fish every day for the 28 days of the first journey with the fact that he was only able to catch two fish during the whole of the second and blaming over-fishing for the difference.

He then goes on to explain how the second leg of the trip between Osaka and San Francisco got worse, describing the ocean as "broken." He tells a terrifying tale of an ocean in which there is almost no life and explains that he is used to seeing turtles, dolphins and sharks. He was disturbed by the fact that for 3000 nautical miles he saw almost no life and describes the sickening sight of a whale rolling around on the surface with what appeared to be some kind of tumor on its head.

An ocean full of garbage

Almost as disturbing as the lack of marine life is the sailor's description of the garbage floating in the ocean, much of which had obviously been washed into the sea during the tsunami in Japan.

His brother, who traveled with him during the second leg of his journey, was stunned by the many thousands of yellow plastic buoys floating on the sea, and along with the buoys were great tangles of synthetic ropes, nets and fishing line and many hundreds of snapped power poles with lines still attached.

There was so much garbage floating in the ocean that in many places they could not use the engine on their boat for fear of the propeller getting tangled in the mess. They also feared the boat being damaged by continual collisions with large objects floating in and under the water, describing the experience as being like "sailing through a garbage tip".

Radiation levels continue to grow in the USA

Meanwhile, reports of increasing radiation levels on the west coast of the United States and concerns about the dangers to human health and wildlife are growing.

Radiation levels on land and in the ocean are being monitored, and reports of sick and dying wildlife are not going unnoticed. Recent reports of polar bears, walruses and seals suffering open sores and fur loss near Alaska, as well as the deaths of 45% of sea lion pups on the coastline of California this year, are only the tip of the iceberg, as hundreds of liters of toxic, radioactive water continues to flow from Fukushima into the ocean every single day.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.theherald.com.au

http://www.greenmedinfo.com

http://www.nytimes.com

http://www.huffingtonpost.com

http://www.straight.com

http://www.netc.com

About the author:
Sue Woledge is a natural therapist, writer and the owner of www.ahealthymeal.com and here.