Fish off the coast of Fukushima, 5 times the allowable level of radioactive substances… Shipment interruption

Excessive detection of cesium in rockfish

Members of the Citizen’s Radiation Monitoring Center and the Federation of Environmental Movements are proclaiming the start of a campaign to stop the ocean discharge of radioactive water contaminated by Fukushima in front of the former Japanese embassy in Jongno-gu, Seoul last November.

On the 22nd, the Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported on the 22nd that a radioactive material cesium, which was 5 times the standard set by the Japanese government, was detected in rockfish taken off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, where a nuclear power plant accident occurred in 2011.

NHK reported that 500 becquerels (㏃) of cesium per 1 kg were detected as a result of testing the rockfish pulled off the coast of Fukushima.

Cesium was detected, which is five times the allowable limit of food (100㏃ per kilogram) set by the Japanese government and ten times more than the Fukushima Fisheries Cooperative Federation’s own standard (50㏃ per kilogram).

NHK reported that it was only two years after February 2019 that radioactive substances exceeding Japanese government standards were detected in seafood caught off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture.

The rockfish in question was caught in a 24m deep fishing ground about 8.8km off the coast of Shinchimachi, Fukushima Prefecture.

The Fukushima Prefectural Fisheries Cooperative Federation decided to stop shipping of rockfish until safety was confirmed.

Fukushima fishermen select and inspect some of the fish caught and ship them if the amount of radioactive substances detected is 50㏃ or less per kilogram.

From February of last year, restrictions on the shipment of all fish caught off the coast of Fukushima were lifted.

Reporter Kim Dong-pyo [email protected]