Fukushima, Fish Farming and Tilapia

Mephistopheles · Aug 28, 2013

With all the news of Fukushima leaking more and more radiation into the Pacific Is Fukushima Radiation Contaminating Tuna, Salmon and Herring On the West Coast of North America? | Zero Hedge , I am concerned for the future generations. If I were a younger person looking for a business, I would think about fish farming. Not the ocean farm pens, but land based farms that pump out young salmon, trout and bass. After the fish are harvested throw in tilapia fry. Tilapia live on the stuff at the bottom of the tank after the main fish has been harvested. It is for that reason I don't eat tilapia now. There could be a mass of obstacles in the way. Everything from Gov regulations to ospreys. I once saw a robin grabbing salmon fry that got to near the edge of a hatchery tank. Anyway, just a thought.

cookie · Oct 11, 2013

A third of all sea life dead.

thereddog · Oct 11, 2013

A friend of mine runs a fish farm and indoor aquaponics operation. The regulations and state licensing bull are unbelievable. it might be different for personal consumpton.

AMProducts · Oct 12, 2013

Personally, there would have to be a lot of Cs-137 in that fish for me not to eat it. The american diet is so heavily fortified with the things you would be deficient on if you lived on bikini atoll, calcium (the chemical Cs-137 tries to replace) in milk, antacids, flour, iodine (I-131 is the radioactive form) in our salt, etc. There is little chance for any of these short lived radioactive compounds to take hold, and even if there is bio-concentration it's so minor in the scheme of things that it doesn't matter. I worry much more about growing up right next to a freeway in los angeles shortening my life than my lifetime count going up by 2% (which would probably up my lifetime cancer risk by .00000002%).

The real issue is the collapse of the fish stocks. This is fairly important in terms of traditional local diets, and local economics. I don't see any reason why the fishing industry should think it's any different from the timber industry, replanting what you take ensures the long term survival of your industry.