Is the Fukushima crisis affecting your seafood consumption?

I am someone who has enjoyed seafood my whole life. Since I live close to the Atlantic ocean, its usually readily available. I still consume it regularly, but I have a confession to make. As of late, there are certain things I no longer consume. Snow crab, king crab and Tuna are off the menu. I am also leery of eating sushi products. The reason, in a nutshell, is because I don't want to risk eating ANY seafood from the pacific. Since the mainstream media is suspiciously scarce on ANY reporting as to the safety or toxicity of Pacific seafood. I have done some research online, and the conclusions I have found are sketchy. I have found some reports claiming its safe, but I have found an equal amount at least implying that its risky.

Also I have noticed that some grocery stores are going out of their way to label the source of a seafood item. I was in Whole foods yesterday and a Lobster Bisque was designated as being made with lobster from the Florida keys. At another store, I actually saw a sign that had "Alaskan" crossed out and now read "Canadian Salmon". I suspect it is because other shoppers, like me, are hesitant to by Pacific seafood. I would like to hear if other ATS'ers are also feeling this way.

I also have a sneaking suspicion that this (hesitation to eat seafood) might have a lot to do with Red Lobsters plummeting sales more than their menu not appealing to millennials.

Your thoughts are welcome.

a reply to: openminded2011
"What goes around comes around"

a reply to: openminded2011

I no longer buy fishsticks for the kids, used to be a once per week meal. I also never make my beloved crab salad anymore which I do miss so much!
I don't know where the seafood is coming from and I won't eat it or prepare it for my family.

I think your theory on Red Lobster may be spot on. I was recently invited out to Red Lobster and had to decline because of this.

I used to go to cajun boils several times per year, but not anymore. I don't trust the seafood.

a reply to: openminded2011

I gave up Gulf oysters and other seafood after the BP spill.
I'm wary of anything from the Pacific, no matter who says it's "safe". We've been lied to before about the safety of food and other products.
Funny anecdote: the Honda Crv is only made in Japan. I was looking to get a 2012 since that was the redesign, but opted for a 2011 that had been stateside pre-tsunami.

I live with my girlfriend who thinks crustaceans are just big bugs, so it hasn't been too hard to give up my favorite seafood. I live near the Chesapeake bay now and occasionally let myself have an awesome fish taco or four.

originally posted by: tinker9917
a reply to: openminded2011
I think your theory on Red Lobster may be spot on. I was recently invited out to Red Lobster and had to decline because of this.

I always found Red Lobster stores to be filthy and smelly (and not seafood smelly). Every store I've ever been to looked it was last remodeled in the 70's. That's why I quit going.

originally posted by: tinker9917
a reply to: openminded2011
I used to go to cajun boils several times per year, but not anymore. I don't trust the seafood.

Cajun boils should be just Gulf of Mexico critters and wouldn't be my concern as far as radiation goes. I still eat seafood in New Orleans for example.

a reply to: openminded2011

No, being in B.C. I have a good chance of developing super powers if I don't stop eating seafood.

Just don't forget our Gulf Of Corexit..or ..err... Gulf Of Mexico. So there are two ongoing and very nasty hotspots for contamination and they both came across prime fishing grounds for world commercial supply.

I still eat seafood but with a rather fatalistic attitude anymore. Our food supply is so mixed and diced together now? I could be eating almost anything with parts of something else or contact enough to matter. They say a single hamburger patty can contain the material of 100 cows, and how many fish go into a fish fillet at our favorite fast junk joints?

On the other hand? Look at the massive fish farming happening in Chile and elsewhere. Controlled and contained fish farms. Walmart is where I'd heard about those. A book going into the back end of Walmart's supply chain. It was talking about the South American fish farms popping up like litter on the highway for supply into the North American markets.

Who really knows then, where anything comes from? Think the package tells you? lol.... We won't go into the Mexican produce I watched come off Mexican trucks in Oxnard, Ca...to miraculously re-appear within an hour on the dock in brand new boxes that read 'Product of USA - Oxnard'. Yeah.... the BOX was anyway...

When I buy seafood, I try to stick to locally caught stuff, and generally not very often anymore. Not due to Fukushima, naw, the cost per LB has been soaring over the years. The pound of grouper we used to get that used to be $5 or $6 per lb has skyrocketed to, depending on season & demand, $15 to $20. Snapper isn't much better, saw it at the grocer about $12 a lb, which was on par with what our nearby fish market is selling it for. Not being able to afford our own local seafood is kind of a slap in the face. I'd just fish for our own if we still had a car, getting to & from the beaches just to fish is a bit of a time-consuming chore on city transit.

P.S, if you want cheap shrimp, buy bait shrimp at a bait & tackle shop. Just de-vein it yourself, and you're good to go. It's a whole lot better than $10 to $15 a lb for the stuff in stores.


Edit: OH! Very important if you want to eat bait shrimp -- ask how long ago they'd been caught, and make sure the tank is fairly clean to the eye. If it's grungy, don't eat 'em. Most bait shops I've been in keep the tanks very clean because people do come in to buy them for consumption. YMMV.

I just ate the late can of Alaskan salmon that I had stockpiled after Fukushima hit



I probably will eat very little out of the Pacific Ocean and nothing from the Gulf of Mexico anymore, and fish stocks are crashing worldwide. People who go deep sea fishing now are pulling in baby-sized fish rather than the monsters they used to a generation ago. No Godzillas yet...

If anyone out there needs a new hobby/possible money maker, look into aquaponics; it's the new-new thing and promises to be a game changer. You don't need good farmland, only a 1/4 acre or less, even a driveway or parking lot, to produce enough vegetables, salad greens and protein to not only feed your family, but support them. We're going to need every fourth or fifth household producing food like this in the coming years as climate change and Fuku take their toll on food production and prices soar. The cost and availability of pork and beef is out of sight, too. You can't raise cattle in 120 degree drought-stricken conditions, and the pork industry has some new virus that's killing off the babies.

Yes...I wont buy Anything from the Pacific...maybe you should run a pole

The US, France and the UK from 1950s on spent decades dropping over 300 nuclear weapons in the Pacific and now people are worried about seafood because of an accident in Japan that did equal the release of one of those 300 weapons? I am pretty sure if everybody who has been eating it over the last several decades is ok you will be to.

a reply to: openminded2011

My husbands Family owns a seafood restaurant and fish market Oregon coast, the sales of all types of seafood seems unaffected. The shellfish, oysters, crab and all fish are bought as soon as they can be had to sell. The weather has been effecting the boats going out very windy, hard to keep enough fresh seafood to sell.

I guess people generally trust and rely on the government to tell them if it is unsafe and it has been declared safe so not effecting their choices.

originally posted by: MrSpad
The US, France and the UK from 1950s on spent decades dropping over 300 nuclear weapons in the Pacific and now people are worried about seafood because of an accident in Japan that did equal the release of one of those 300 weapons? I am pretty sure if everybody who has been eating it over the last several decades is ok you will be to.

And this would be the problem......

"because of an accident in Japan that did equal the release of one of those 300 weapons?"


1. According to the HBO Vice special.....the initial Fukushima accident equaled 168 Hiroshima bombs,,, if true, that's just a tad bit more than one.

2. Your statement would appear to count Fukushima as over and done with.... it's calculation based on a final number... the only problem is that tomorrow, Fukushima will have released more radiation into the Pacific ocean than it did today... and it will continue to increase for every day for thousands of years at this point.


Open your eyes and do a little research before you post.

And as far as the OP goes, I no longer eat anything out of the Pacific.... my personal belief is that once it is all said and done.... the real numbers on how much radiation is going/has went into the Pacific ocean will be astounding once the truth comes out.

originally posted by: RickinVa

originally posted by: MrSpad
The US, France and the UK from 1950s on spent decades dropping over 300 nuclear weapons in the Pacific and now people are worried about seafood because of an accident in Japan that did equal the release of one of those 300 weapons? I am pretty sure if everybody who has been eating it over the last several decades is ok you will be to.

And this would be the problem......

"because of an accident in Japan that did equal the release of one of those 300 weapons?"


1. According to the HBO Vice special.....the initial Fukushima accident equaled 168 Hiroshima bombs,,, if true, that's just a tad bit more than one.

2. Your statement would appear to count Fukushima as over and done with.... it's calculation based on a final number... the only problem is that tomorrow, Fukushima will have released more radiation into the Pacific ocean than it did today... and it will continue to increase for every day for thousands of years at this point.


Open your eyes and do a little research before you post.

And as far as the OP goes, I no longer eat anything out of the Pacific.... my personal belief is that once it is all said and done.... the real numbers on how much radiation is going/has went into the Pacific ocean will be astounding once the truth comes out.

The problem with doing research from credible sources is that the numbers are not astounding nor even close to what we have been dropping all ready. And the bomb we have been dropping the pacifc are hundreds of time higher in yield that those at Hirosima. So yes so far it has not released to same yield as singe drop much less over 300 of them.

Yes, I used to eat tuna (canned or steak) 4 or 5 times a week. I haven't eaten tuna now in like 2 1/2 years. I may eat a can of Atlantic salmon every few months now.

a reply to: MrSpad

"So yes so far it has not released to same yield as singe drop much less over 300 of them."

So you are claiming as fact that Fukushima has not released the amount of radiation that one single nuclear bomb from the 50's released????

Three melted nuclear cores containing tons of fuel material do not match even 1 single bomb from the 50's?


You really need to check your figures on that,,,,if it wasn't so sad it would almost be funny.



Fukushima has released a lot of radiation so far to date and still has more to release in the future.

originally posted by: MrSpad
The US, France and the UK from 1950s on spent decades dropping over 300 nuclear weapons in the Pacific and now people are worried about seafood because of an accident in Japan that did equal the release of one of those 300 weapons? I am pretty sure if everybody who has been eating it over the last several decades is ok you will be to.

Don't forget the Russians...
You're right. Cancer rates and other birth defects are increasing at a rate faster than population growth. Swept under the rug of nationalistic pride. I'm still going to avoid as much as I can.
Thanks for the reminder.

a reply to: LogicalGraphitti

I'm pretty sure the crab and lobsters involved in the Cajun Boil do not come from the Gulf of Mexico

No, I don't eat the poor things at all. Haven't for a long time.