Japanese officials have been unable to explain the massive wash of some 1,200 tons of sardines and mackerel ashore in Hakodate, southwestern Hokkaido. The incident took place a week ago, but the cause of the strange environmental incident is still unknown.
The eruption left a half-mile stretch of coastline littered with dead fish, and local residents were concerned about the prospect of an incredible stench as the fish began to decompose.
Of the theories put forward by local experts in the field of nature, two were the most important: large schools of fish were fleeing some kind of predator and therefore accidentally ended up in shallow water, from where the waves washed them ashore , and a drop in water temperature. .
Meanwhile, a conspiracy theory was widely spread on social networks, according to which the fish died as a result of water from Fukushima, which was allowed to be released into the ocean four months ago.
The Japanese authorities claim that this water is completely safe, but few people believe them. The fact is that even experts admit that this water still contains radioactive isotopes of tritium, albeit in very small quantities.
Local fishermen try to collect fish swimming in the waves off the coast, fearing that rotting fish will reduce oxygen levels in the water and harm marine life.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before. Only last year we started catching sappu (a local sardine species) here. I wonder if the marine ecosystem is changing,” said fisherman Mainichi Shimbun, who has worked in the area for 25 years.
“The cause is still unknown at this time. We plan to sample and investigate local seawater to determine the cause,” Mikine Fujiwara, a local fisheries official, told a local newspaper.
Speculation about the disruption of Fukushima waters has become so popular online that the Japan Fisheries Agency issued a special notice: “No abnormalities were found in the results of water monitoring studies. We are concerned about the dissemination of information that is not based on scientific evidence.”
Meanwhile, Hakodate city officials have urged local residents not to eat stranded fish, amid reports that some are collecting large quantities of fish to sell or eat.
“We don’t know for sure under what conditions the fish washed up, so I don’t recommend eating them,” said Takashi Fujioka, a fisheries expert.
