On April 20th, it was reported that on the morning of April 19th, Tokyo Electric Power Company initiated the fifth round of discharge of nuclear contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, marking the first discharge of the fiscal year 2024 (April 2024 to March 2025).
This round of discharge is expected to last until May 7th, with a total discharge of approximately 7,800 tons. According to information released by Tokyo Electric Power Company in January of this year, the plan for the fiscal year 2024 consists of a total of seven discharges, with an estimated discharge of about 54,600 tons of nuclear contaminated water.
Since the start of the nuclear wastewater discharge plan last year, approximately 30,000 tons have already flowed into the Pacific Ocean, with Japan expecting the pollution discharge to continue for at least 30 years.
According to a report by Japanese broadcaster Asahi TV on April 17th, in recent years, large quantities of sardines have appeared in the waters off Hokkaido, causing a sharp decline in the catch of sweet shrimp, which were previously abundant. The abnormal situation in the waters off Hokkaido has greatly troubled the local fishing industry.
A man fishing at the port stated that schools of sardines could be seen without the need for bait, a remarkable and unusual sight.
So why is this rare phenomenon occurring? Researchers at the Hokkaido Central Fisheries Research Institute explained that this year, the seawater in the waters off Hokkaido warmed up in February but cooled down in March, which is different from previous years. This may be the reason for the abnormal situation.
Asahi TV reported that there are many as yet unexplained reasons for this, which require further investigation by research institutions. Many local fishermen speculate that it may be related to the discharge of nuclear contaminated water, causing abnormal behavior in the sardine population.
