Old video resurfaced to claim it shows 'dead fish' after Fukushima wastewater release

This article is more than one year old.
Published on August 31, 2023 at 07:16
4 min read
By SHIM Kyu-Seok, AFP South Korea

A video has been shared on South Korean and Chinese social media with a false claim that it shows thousands of dead fish floating in waters near a beach after Japan started releasing wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant on August 24, 2023. In fact, the original video was uploaded months before the discharge began. It was also filmed in a town on Japan's west coast, while the Fukushima power plant is on the east coast.

"The current state of the sea in Japan where Fukushima radiation wastewater has been released, hidden by the government," reads the Korean-language title of a video shared here on YouTube on August 26.

The video, which has been viewed more than 150,000 times, appears to show masses of dead fish floating in the waters near a beach.

Screenshot of the misleading claim shared on YouTube. Captured August 28, 2023.

The claim surfaced after Japan began to discharge treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant on August 24, prompting heavy backlash among neighbouring countries such as South Korea and China.

TEPCO, the Japanese operator of the Fukushima nuclear plant, said preliminary seawater samples after the wastewater release began showed radioactivity levels were within safe limits, AFP reported.

Similar claims were shared on Facebook here, here and here as well in multiple posts on YouTube in Chinese as well as on TikTok in English.

However, the video was filmed before Japan began to discharge wastewater from the Fukushima plant.

Old video

Through a reverse image search on Google, AFP found the video was posted on Douyin on February 7, 2023 (archived link).

The same video was also published in a post on Sina Weibo that says it was taken from a "live broadcast by an Internet celebrity in Japan" who witnessed "a large number of dead fish on a beach" (archived link).

"Someone said during the live stream that they saw red algae, and others asked worriedly whether there will be an earthquake," the post's caption says.

However, it does not mention Fukushima or Japan's decision to discharge wastewater from the power plant.

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading posts (left) and the video posted on Weibo (right):

Screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading social media posts (left) and the corresponding video posted on Weibo on February 7 (right).

Japanese outlet the Joetsu Times reported on the same day that the video was uploaded that a large number of fish washed up on the beach in Itoigawa City (archived link).

The city is located on the west coast of Japan and is over 280 kilometres (about 170 miles) from the Fukushima power plant.

A local official told AFP that about 250 tonnes of dead fish were collected, but the cause of the death remained unclear.

The Joetsu Times also published a photo showing a scene similar to that in the misleading video alongside the caption: "Tsutsuishi fishing port beach where a large number of dead fish washed up (after 5:00 pm on the 7th)".

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video shared in the misleading posts (left) and the photo published by the Joetsu Times, with similar geographical features in the background highlighted by AFP (right):

Screenshot comparison of the video shared in the misleading posts (left) and a corresponding photo published by the Joetsu Times on February 7 (right)

The incident was widely reported in Japan including by broadcasters NHK, TBS and NTV (archived links here, here and here).

AFP was able to geolocate the approximate location where the video was shot to a beach near the Tsutsuishi fishing port in Itoigawa City (archived link).

Below is a screenshot comparison of the video shared in the misleading posts (left) and a corresponding Google Street View in Itoigawa City (right), with similar features highlighted by AFP in red:

Screenshot comparison of the video shared in the misleading posts (left) and a corresponding Google Street View in Itogawa City (right)

AFP has debunked other false claims about the Fukushima wastewater release here and here.

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