title: A report on radioactivity measurements of fish samples from the west coast of Canada.
abstract: Even though many studies have shown that radioactive caesium levels in fish caught outside of Japan were below experimental detection limits of a few Bq kg(-1), significant public concern has been expressed about the safety of consuming seafood from the Pacific Ocean following the Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear accident. To address the public concerns, samples of commonly consumed salmon and groundfish harvested from the Canadian west coast in 2013 were analysed for radioactive caesium. None of the fish samples analysed in this study contained any detectable levels of (134)Cs and (137)Cs under given experimental setting with the average detection limit of ∼2 Bq kg(-1). Using a conservative worst-case scenario where all fish samples would contain (137)Cs exactly at the detection limit level and (134)Cs at half of the detection limit level (to account for much shorter half-life of (134)Cs), the resulting radiation dose for people from consumption of this fish would be a very small fraction of the annual dose from exposure to natural background radiation in Canada. Therefore, fish, such as salmon and groundfish, from the Canadian west coast are of no radiological health concern.
authors.affiliation: Radiation Protection Bureau, Health Canada, 775 Brookfield Road, Ottawa, Canada K1A 1C1 jing.chen@hc-sc.gc.ca.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Radiation Protection Bureau, Health Canada, 775 Brookfield Road, Ottawa, Canada K1A 1C1.
authors.forename: Michael W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Cooke
authors.affiliation: Radiation Protection Bureau, Health Canada, 775 Brookfield Road, Ottawa, Canada K1A 1C1.
authors.forename: Jean-Francois
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Mercier
authors.affiliation: Radiation Protection Bureau, Health Canada, 775 Brookfield Road, Ottawa, Canada K1A 1C1.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Ahier
authors.affiliation: Pacific Biological Station, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 3190 Hammond Bay Road, Nanaimo, Canada V9 T 6N7 Department of Biology, University of Victoria, P.O. Box 3020, Station CSC, Victoria, Canada V8W 3N5.
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trudel
authors.affiliation: Pacific Biological Station, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 3190 Hammond Bay Road, Nanaimo, Canada V9 T 6N7.
authors.forename: Greg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Workman
authors.affiliation: Pacific Biological Station, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 3190 Hammond Bay Road, Nanaimo, Canada V9 T 6N7.
authors.forename: Malcolm
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wyeth
authors.affiliation: Institute of Ocean Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, P.O. Box 6000, Sidney, Canada V8L 4B2.
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001822:Body Burden; D002170:Canada; D002586:Cesium / Q000032:analysis*; D005399:Fishes / Q000378:metabolism*; D005504:Food Analysis / Q000379:methods*; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D010140:Pacific Ocean; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012623:Seawater / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive; D002586:Cesium