China's waters safe for next 5 years
- Source: Global Times
- [08:50 April 22 2011]
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By Liu Sheng
It will take at least five years for seawater contaminated by radiation from Japan's tsunami-crippled nuclear plants to arrive in China, and by that time, the radiation levels will have greatly dispersed and not be harmful to Chinese marine life, said experts speaking at the 9th Asian Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum at Shanghai Ocean University Thursday.
The ocean current is moving north in the northern hemisphere, which means that seawater from Japan will actually hit the US first, and then Russia before China.
"It might even take up to 10 years for the seawater to reach China," Jin Xianshi, deputy director of the Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, told reporters Thursday.
"The self-purification capacity of the Pacific Ocean is strong enough to dilute the contaminated water, so I don't think there will be a problem when it arrives in China," he told the Global Times Thursday.
Jin also reaffirmed that Chinese seafood is safe for the public, saying that authorities are continuing to monitor the situation closely.
"There's no need to worry about China's seafood," he said. "Most of the supply comes from domestic fish farms, or offshore."
Jin said that the supply of squid or saury fish, which are brought in from the ocean and already on store shelves, are not problematic as that supply is only harvested once a year, generally in April and May - meaning the current stock was produced from last year's supply before the disaster. He added that next year's supply will be tested for radiation before reaching the market.
After Japan discharged more than 10,000 tons of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean, other countries, too, have been prompted to keep a close eye on their waters.