May 25, 2013   •  
Whale and Dolphin Conservation
WDCS in Action

Further information
Privacy Policy
Terms and Conditions
Copyright WDCS 2013
Charity No. 1014705

2011-06-15

Radiation Detected In Minke Whales Off Japan
Japan's spring coastal whaling off Kushiro has ended, and radioactive caesium has been detected in some of the whales taken. Officials from Japan have announced that this is likely a result of the nuclear accident off Fukushima, and that the situation will need to be watched.

According to the survey team, 6 minke whales were tested for radioactivity out of the 17 caught in the coastal spring hunt.  In two whales trace levels of radioactive caesium were found: 31 becquerels/kg in one and 24.3 becquerels/kg in another.  The spring hunt usually takes place off  Ayukawa, and the fall hunt from Kushiro, but the whalers in East Ayukawa district were affected by the earthquake, and  the hunt was changed to Kushiro.

Mark Simmonds, WDCS International Director of Science, said, "Sadly this shows that radioactive caesium is within the whole marine food chain and even reaching the whales."  The implications for the health of whales or for human consumers are unclear and levels detected in whales are below the provisional guideline for human health of 500 becquerels/kg set by Japan.

Since the March 11th quake, samples of a growing number of species have been found to exceed safety levels recommended by Japan, including Japanese sandlance, whitebait, ayu sweetfish, Japanese smelt, Land-locked salmon, Mediterranean mussel , Wakame seaweed, Hijiki seaweed, Arame seaweed,Japanese dace, Surf clam, Sea urchin, brown hakeling and fat greenling.  Japanese sand lance is a key prey species for minke whales.

The termination of the coastal hunt after taking just 17 whales  as compared to ~45 in 2010 raises many questions about the future of Japanese whaling and its likely strategy at the forthcoming IWC meeting (where it has previously argued strongly for a legalization of its coastal whaling).

With the future of its Antarctic whaling in question, its Ayukawa-based coastal hunt prevented by tsunami-damage and the expanded Hokkaido-based coastal hunt now threatened by radioactivity, Japan’s only viable option for whaling at this point may be the offshore hunt in the North Pacific that just launched, in which it plans to kill 100 minke whales 10 sperm whales, 50 Bryde's whales and 100 sei whales. Officials have announced that meat from those whales will also be monitored for radiation.

Sources: Kyodo News/Tokyo Web MAFF

 


Bookmark and Share