What killed our King salmon?

Could our present, dramatic crash in King Salmon numbers be due only to commonly-known biological causes: 1. Change in odor of river, due to motor oil, fuels, antifreeze, and human waste from boats, and other vehicles; 2. Warming of ocean; 3. Commercial over-fishing; 4. Increased whale populations; and 5. Competition from shorter-lived salmon species? Our poor salmon must overcome all of these, but a final blow on top of all the above may be exposure to radioactivity, draining into the ocean every single day from Fukushima, Japan since the 2011 nuclear melt-down. King salmon that first swam out to sea 7 to 9 years ago could have been carried farther and over more cycles than other salmon species (since they live 3 times longer other kinds) by North Pacific and sub-polar currents from Alaska to Japan, back to California, and up to Alaska, and back to Japan, where they pick up another dose of radioactivity, and so on. If those salmon had lived, they would be returning, now, to spawn. But, most never came back!

Their dead bodies may have been eaten by crabs. But, our Alaska Dept. Environmental Conservation has refused to measure radioactivity concentrations in crabs! This has been reported in my letter-to-editor, "DEC claims radio-isotope tests find nothing in Alaskan seafood", by Daniel N. Russell, Frontiersman, 4/12/17.

In a report on 1/5/2017 in The Tribal Tribune, "UCUT study finds trace amounts of radiation in migratory salmon Columbia River ", Justus Caudell reported, "Seaborne radiation from Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant was detected in the Pacific Ocean along the West Coast. A study by Upper Columbia United Tribes has found trace amounts of radiation in Columbia River Sockeye as well as Chinook salmon, UCUT biologist Marc Gauthier said, ... UCUT found … trace amounts of strontium-90".

Background Information: Cesium-137 half-life is 30.17 years, and decays by beta emission to baryium 137m, which emits gamma-rays. Strontium-90 half-life is 28.79 years, and decays by beta emission to yttrium-90, which emits more beta particles. Only one atom of any radioactive isotope is enough to trigger cancer. So, there is no safe amount. These two accumulate over time in muscle and bones, respectively. The tiny fish eat plankton over their whole lives and concentrate these in their tissues. Then, bigger fish eat them over their whole lives and further concentrate these in their bodies. Then, bigger fish eat those and so on. When the biggest fish die, then crabs feast on them and further concentrate cesium-137 in their muscles and strontium-90 in their shells. Since crabs are cannibals, by eating each other, they further concentrate these. That is why we must measure strontium-90 concentrations in crab shells and fish bones. This can only be done accurately by mass spectroscopic analysis.

A good indicator of such radioactivity exposure is a rise in incidence of bone cancer in children in any part of Alaska, where local seafood is the main diet. So, we should compare incidence of bone cancer in children in all parts of Alaska to find any spikes. Please ask your Alaska Dept. of Environmental Conservation to send samples of pulverized dry King salmon bones and bones of children that have died of bone cancer, and pulverized dry King crab shells to specialized labs to measure Sr-90 concentrations in bones and shells, and Cs-137 concentrations in muscle tissue by mass spectroscopy. Since this is an urgent matter of our state's economic security, please, demand action from AK DEC at: DEC.Commissioner@alaska.gov . Native corporations should make such pulverized dry powder samples and independently send them to specialized laboratories, capable of doing mass spectroscopic analysis of strontium-90 concentrations.

Daniel Russell is a resident of Anchorage.