[CPEO-MEF] FISH, GLOBAL: "New Study Of Marshall Islands Fish Highlights Peril Of Using Oceans As Dumping Grounds"

[Lenny Siegel <LSiegel@cpeo.org>]

New Study Of Marshall Islands Fish Highlights Peril Of Using Oceans As Dumping Grounds
Researchers said that the results won't currently affect food choices for Marshallese and are consistent with global marine pollution trends.

By Anita Hofschneider  
Honolulu Civil Beat (HI)
January 16, 2022
   
Widespread pollution was found in fishes across six atolls in the Marshall Islands in a new study from researchers at the University of Hawaii and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The study was completed at the request of the Marshall Islands Marine Resources Authority and tested fish for the presence of metals, certain pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

“This is essentially the first study of its kind there,” said Megan Donahue, a research professor at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology and co-director of the University of Hawaii’s marine biology graduate program.

Previous studies looking at pollution in the Marshall Islands have often focused on the lingering effects of U.S. nuclear testing. Fish contamination surrounding Kwajalein, the site of a longtime U.S. military base, is already well known. In 2019 the U.S. Army found PCB and arsenic levels in the fish surrounding the atoll posed dangerous cancer risks to Marshallese families.

…

For the entire article, see
https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/01/new-study-of-marshall-islands-fish-highlights-peril-of-using-oceans-as-dumping-grounds/

—

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel@cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)

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