Thousands of tonnes of dead sardines have been dumped on a Hokkaido beach in northern Japan for unknown reasons, officials reported on Friday.
The sardines and mackerel were washed ashore on Thursday morning in Hakodate located on Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido. A silver, impenetrable blanket of dead fish appeared along the beachfront area, stretching about a kilometre (0.6 miles) long.
Local residents claimed they had never seen anything like this, with some collecting the fish to sell or eat. Town officials urged people not to consume it, as the reasons for the dead fish appearing on the shore remained unexplained.
Takashi Fujioka, a researcher at the Hakodate Fisheries Research Institute, stated that although he had previously heard of such phenomena, this is the first time he encountered one.
He speculated that the fish could have been chased by larger fish, causing the thickened school of fish, depleted by lack of oxygen, to be swept ashore by the waves. He suggested the fish could also have been suddenly stranded in colder waters during migration. Fujioka warned that decomposing fish could reduce oxygen levels in the water and affect the marine environment.
We don’t know for sure under what circumstances these fish were washed up, so I do not recommend eating them.
