A dead fish sometimes washes up on the beach: it is part of nature. Only when thousands of fish suddenly wash up does it become a bit strange. This happened a few days ago on the beach of Hokkaido Island in Japan, and no one knows why. In the meantime, the dead fish smell prevails over more than a kilometer of coastline.
Thousands of dead fish washed up in Japan
It looks like a cemetery on the beach of the Japanese island of Hokkaido. Thousands of dead fish mysteriously washed ashore in just a few days, and no one has any idea why. In the meantime, local fishermen try to remove the fish as quickly as possible. However, it is not that easy, because of course there are so many of them. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” a fisherman with more than 25 years of experience told Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun. This concerns approximately 1,200 tons of mackerel and sardines. The thousands of dead fish have washed up near the fishing port of Hakodate. According to the experienced fisherman, only last year the fishermen suddenly started catching sardines. “I wonder if the ecosystem is changing,” he says.
By the way, this is not the only place in Japan where dead fish have washed up. For example, last Wednesday, about 30 to 40 tons of dead fish washed up in a town hundreds of miles south of the island of Hokkaido. There are a lot fewer of them, but it is just as bizarre.
Thousands of tons of dead sardines washed ashore in Hakodate’s beach on Hokkaido, Japan pic.twitter.com/gpH0mjaPcv
— Carl Zha (@CarlZha) December 7, 2023
Examine seawater
At the moment it is still a mystery what exactly happened. Even the scientists have no idea yet. This means that several scenarios are possible. Perhaps the fish were completely exhausted, because they were hunted by predatory fish. Or the water temperature may have suddenly dropped significantly, causing a so-called temperature shock. Mikine Fujiwara, a well-known local fisheries official, tells the Mainichi Shimbun that they will investigate the seawater. Samples of the seawater at the location will soon be taken.
Fukushima wastewater?
Although the investigation is still ongoing, the media is also considering possible causes. For example, the British Daily Mail makes a connection with the wastewater from Fukushima. Four months ago, the nuclear power plant started discharging its waste into the Pacific Ocean. This was approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency at the time, because the impact on the environment would be “negligible”.
The Japanese Fisheries Agency does not think there is a link with Fukushima wastewater. “No abnormalities were found in the preliminary results of water monitoring studies,” the spokesperson said.
