Scientists find no evidence that radiation caused symptoms that killed Alaska ...

22.02.12

Radiation was considered because of the timing and size of the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident that followed a tsunami in March 11 in Japan. According to the NOAA announcement, marine animals and fish near the accident site in Japan were affected by radiation but there is no evidence to support any effects on animals in Alaska.

Sick and dead ringed seals started showing up in July on the Beaufort Sea coast near Barrow, the country’s northernmost community. Strandings were reported as far west as Point Lay and Wainwright on the Chukchi Sea.

The affected animals had lesions on hind flippers and inside their mouths. Some showed patchy hair loss and skin irritation around the nose and eyes.

Stricken live seals were lethargic, allowing people to approach. Necropsies on the dead ringed seals found fluid in lungs, white spots on livers and abnormal growth in brains. Symptoms, but no deaths, were also observed in Pacific walrus.

Ringed seals are the smallest of Alaska’s ice seals and are the main prey of polar bears. They give birth on ice and they are under consideration for a threatened species listing because of projected loss of snow cover and sea ice from climate warming.

Source: Washington Post (blog)