Disasters in Japan 2011, Impact on United States Economy: 6.) Toxic Fish in Japan

The Japanese fisherman are tremendously worried that radiation from seaside nuclear power plants will affect the tuna, the oysters, the sharks, the squids, and the seaweed which they sell to restaurants, fish markets, supermarkets, and export all over the world. The worry started when Japanese officials found levels of radiation higher than normal in the seawater around the nuclear plants and complexes. The fisherman of Japan believe that the radiation will affect the smallest fish first. Then with the food chain, when the larger fish eat the smaller fish, the larger fish will also be contaminated with radioactive isotopes.

The people are becoming more and more concerned that their fishing companies will be greatly impacted and could lose $10 million, which is about 20 percent of their annual income. On a yearly average, Japan earns $16.5 billion from fishing revenue alone, the northeast coast, where the earthquake struck, is where the vast majority of this money comes from. If the fish become contaminated by the radioactive water, then they will definitely lose out on a great deal of their normal incomes, and they won’t be able to sell or export any fish; America is very closely regulating the food that we import from Japan and we are going to continue screening all food for radioactive isotopes and ions.