Japanese wastewater release information seen as limited

The National Business

By NATHAN WOTI
JAPAN’s limited public notice before the release of 1.3 million tonnes of treated chemical wastewater into the Pacific Ocean has created a wave of frustration around the Pacific.
Although recent reports had claimed that there were no radioactive chemicals found in fish caught after the release of the waste water, Pacific Island leaders were worried tuna (a migrating species of fish) and important revenue earner for the Pacific would be impacted by this release of waste water.
Fisheries and Marine Resources Minister Jelta Wong said there were critical steps to safeguard the nation’s water in response to the discharge of wastewater from Fuskushima power station.
Wong said the National Government would introduce a rigorous monitoring and testing procedures to detect hazardous materials in PNG’s water.
“With the release of waste water from Fukushima, it is now imperative that all countries and global agencies independently monitor water quality,” he said.
“We do trust the briefings and data provided by the United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), but we will be taking further steps to ensure the safety of our sovereign waters.
“We will commission independent monitoring in PNG waters, overseen by an accredited private sector company, with associated costs to be reimbursed by Japan.”
Wong also expressed immediate concerns about the discharge of ship ballast water from Japan, which could reach PNG’s waterways within days.
He said that the Marine Pollution (Ballast Water Control) Act 2013, was to prevent illegal ballast discharges.
However, these laws do not address the issue of radioactive waste water.
Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA) market specialist Jope Tamani said that as far as market for tuna was concerned there were no jurisdiction stopping the sale of tuna fish that were caught within the Japan Sea yet.
However, he proposed that this would be an ongoing issue into the future which could impact the European market which was PNG’s largest importer of fish.