-
Professors: 100s of Millions of animals have died recently along West Coast —
Worst mortality event ever known —
“Wiped out at least 20 different species” —
Marine life also disappearing from Fukushima coast
Published: April 22nd, 2015 at 10:34 am ET
By ENENews[Fukushima or years of massive injection of toxic metals into the atmosphere and oceans? — MC]
New Yorker, Apr 21, 2015 (emphasis added): [A]n ongoing outbreak of a sea-star wasting disease… has killed millions of starfish… It’s the greatest wildlife mass-mortality event, or “die-off,” of the present day… Online, speculation about the cause of the die-off soon focussed [sic] on radiation from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear-power plant… [Pete Raimondi, principal investigator with a research group studying the disease] recalled a phone call in which a fearful soon-to-be father asked whether he should immediately move his family away from the West Coast. It was one of many similarly heartfelt calls. Researchers have found no evidence of a link between the ongoing Fukushima disaster and the starfish die-off,.. Many members of the public remain unconvinced… sea stars are known to be maritime canaries-in-the-coal-mine: “They’re always the first ones to go,” Raimondi said.
Santa Cruz Sentinel, Apr 6, 2015: [A] mysterious disease has melted millions of sea stars… This current epidemic has wiped out at least 20 different species of starfish, Raimondi said.
Dr. Ben Miner, Western Washington Univ., Jan 22, 2015 (35:45 in): “The numbers of stars that have died are probably — reasonable estimates of hundreds of millions. I think at this point most scientists are pretty comfortable saying that it’s the largest mass mortality ever associated with a disease ever recorded. [It’s] quite frightening… Patterns we initially saw and subsequent to that — and some other data — strongly suggests that it has nothing to do with Fukushima, though that was something that was very commonly reported in the media.”
Was ‘the media’ responsible for suggesting a possible link to Fukushima contamination as Dr. Miner claims? Or was it the sea star wasting researchers?
CTV News: The vanishing sea creatures have caused concern among marine experts… [They’re] studying the potential impact of Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Discovery News: A wasting disease that’s attacking starfish… could be at least in part caused by nuclear pollution from [Fukushima] said a marine ecologist involved with studying sick starfish. Peter Raimondi [told News 1130 in Vancouver] that nuclear pollution carried across the ocean… can’t be ruled out as a factor. “One of the byproducts is obviously nuclear radiation discharge…” he told the news outlet.Dr. Ian Hewson, Cornell Univ. (.mp3): “We’ve had a lot of questions about whether it is related to radiation from Fukushima. We can’t completely exclude that possibility, but… sea stars on the Japanese side of the Pacific, they’re not dying*, as far as we know.”
The Herald: “It’s extremely difficult to pinpoint the exact cause,” said Ben Miner… [One] theory is that the condition is caused by radiation [from] Fukushima… If that were true, many more creatures would be affected**, researchers said.“It’s unlikely to be the direct cause,” Miner said.
* See report from Japan’s National Institute for Environmental Studies (2014): “We conducted field surveys at intertidal zones of 43 sites… The number of species of intertidal biota seemed to get smaller as the site was close to 1F [Fukushima Daiichi]. No rock shell specimens were collected at 8 sites of Fukushima… specimens were collected at many sites in Miyagi and Iwate prefectures, where enormous Tsunami attacked, it is unlikely that smaller number of intertidal species… were caused by Tsunami. Contaminated cooling water… may have given any impacts to intertidal biota.” [Sea stars are “the foundation of intertidal life” -Source]
** Many other instances of mass die-offs and disease have occurred along North America’s Pacific coast since 2011 — for example: whales, orcas, dolphins, sea lions, seals, polar bears, walruses, sea birds, owls, pelicans, turtles, crabs, sea urchins, oysters, scallops, abalone, sardines, anchovies, salmon, herring, jellyfish, sea salps, coral, krill, plankton and more.
Die-Off Started in 2011 – 06/04/2015
Scientists reveal details of unprecedented mass mortality on West Coast that began summer 2011 —
“Many millions” of deaths before sea star wasting syndrome —
Multiple species wiped out in days —
Mortality rate of 99.99% over large region —
“No documented event has been so severe”
Published: June 4th, 2015 at 12:30 pm ET
By ENENewsUniv. of California (Davis), Jun 3, 2015 (emphasis added): In August 2011, scientists at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory walked into their labs to a strange, disturbing sight: Thousands of purple sea urchins and other marine invertebrates were dead in their tanks, which are fed directly by seawater. [The] ocean washed up carcasses of red abalone, large sea stars, and football-sized, snail-like chitons… even more heavily impacted as a population were the millions of purple sea urchins and tiny sea stars that died along a 62-mile stretch of coast…
“We might not have known urchins and six-armed sea stars were affected if lab-held animals hadn’t died right in front of us,” said the study’s lead author Laura Jurgens… “We’re expecting real ecological changes in how these tide pools operate”… this die-off was fast, wiping out these two species in as little as a few days. The die-off also occurred about two years before [observance of] sea star wasting syndrome…
Santa Cruz Sentinel, Jun 3, 2015: [It was] a grim scene, with dead red abalone, purple sea urchins and tiny sea stars rotting across the Northern California shoreline… the same carnage [took place] at the UC Davis Bodega Marine Lab… scientists tallied almost 100 percent mortality of purple sea urchins and six-armed sea stars throughout the 62-mile study area… Researchers found only 10 purple sea urchins in the area once home to millions…
Study by scientists from CA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife, Bodega Marine Lab, UC Davis/Santa Cruz/Merced, Jun 3, 2015: Patterns of Mass Mortality among Rocky Shore Invertebrates across 100 km of Northeastern Pacific Coastline — In late August 2011, formerly abundant intertidal populations of the purple sea urchin [and] six-armed sea star were functionally extirpated from ~100 km of coastline… studies by others indicated moderate to severe impacts on… red sea urchin… and red abalone…
There were no obvious physical stressors (e.g., a storm, heavy rainfall)… we did not find a single six-armed star at these six locations… Ochre sea stars and gumboot chitons also experienced elevated mortality… We found only ten surviving intertidal purple urchins out of a prior regional population we estimate at many millions…. [The] mortality rate was therefore >99.99% over 100 km… [N]o previously documented mortality event has been so severe over such a large region… its sudden onset [is] a pattern that is rare in marine systems… typically [it takes] several months or years…
[W]e cannot unambiguously ascribe the current die-off to a particular cause or set of causes… A disease outbreak is plausible… The most likely cause… appears to be a toxin produced by phytoplankton… yessotoxins have not previously been known as lethal… the possibility remains that unidentified species and/or toxin(s) were responsible.
Press Democrat (Sonoma), Feb 2014: Biologists were initially stumped by the die-off, which stunned local divers and was erroneously attributed to a red tide. The cause has since been identified as a bloom of microscopic algae called Gonyaulax membranacea, which produce a toxin called yessotoxin…
The topic ‘Mass Mortality on West Coast – 04/22/2015’ is closed to new replies.