Kelp forests off the California coasts are being monitored to see if any radioactive material from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan have made it across the Pacific.
While the tainted water is expected to reach the West Coast this year, some scientists have already claimed to have found trace amounts of radioactive material in sea life.
The initiative is being called the Kelp Project, and was launched by a CalState Long Branch biologist by the name of Steve Manley. After the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that damaged the Fukushima plant and causing massive damage to the islands of Japan, Manley detected very small and non-harmful amounts of theradioactive isotope of iodine, iodine-131, in kelp off the coast of California.
"I got emails and calls from people who wanted to know if it was safe to visit the coast and to eat the fish. I still get emails like that," said Manley.
"There's been a lot of confusion between the levels of radiation that have been detected and levels that are harmful. So far, there have been no levels that are a real concern," said Chad Nelsen, environmental director at the San Clemente-based Surfrider Foundation.
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