(Pacific Alliance of Municipal Councils) — On March 29, 2023, attorney Jun Sasamoto, from Japan Lawyers International Solidarity Association, and his wife, Yoku, a filmmaker, arrived in the Commonwealth and met with several fishermen and women, some members of the CNMI leadership, and community leaders. They took videos of the people they met expressing their strong opposition to Japan and the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant company’s plan to release millions of gallons of treated nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean for a period of 10 years.
Rep. JP Sablan, chairman of the 23rd Saipan & Northern Islands Legislative Delegation, and Rep. Angelo Camacho, chairman of the 23rd House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources jointly expressed their opposition.
“Tritium has a lifespan of 12 and half years, and may be considered safe by some scientists, but I have been doing my research, and I am not comfortable with it as Tritium at its minimum and by itself may not pose a danger, but releasing them in large amount into the water poses a threat to the food we eat and our health,” Representative Camacho stated.
Chairman Sablan expressed his grave concern on the overall effect on the people’s way of life as the ocean is an integral part of the Commonwealth’s culture, home economic and food supplement.
Ana Marie San Nicolas, vice chairwoman, 19th Tinian Municipal Council stated, “As a mother, I want my children and their children to avail themselves with whatever they can harvest from the ocean. I grew up in a large family and fishing was and is a part of our lives. So, please, I strongly urge the government of Japan to reconsider dumpling any nuclear waste into the ocean.”
Chairman Joseph E. Santos expressed similar concern over Tritium and its effect on sea life and people’s health.
Chad B. Palacios, an officer from the Tinian Fish & Wildlife Division, stated that fish migration and ocean current will eventually make their way into our shores and it may be assumed that the treated wastewater will be diluted. But there is a missing link in that assumption as the concentration at the point of release will most likely be consumed by fish, fish migrates and will affect the sea life food chain at large, Palacios said.
Juan M. Atalig, a local fisherman, drew the flow of the ocean current for visual effects, while Raymond P. Iglesias, another fisherman, shares his finds on the shore that he believed are from Japan.
