Was a large-scale die-off of shrimp related to Japan's release of treated water from its earthquake and tsunami-damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant? No, that's not true: The video was shot in China in 2021 before the release of water from Fukushima.
The claim originated from a video (archived here) where it was published by @nangezaici on TikTok, on August 25, 2023, with a caption translated into English from Korean by Lead Stories staff that reads:
Due to radioactive contamination
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Sun Oct 15 02:47:18 2023 UTC)
The author implies the shrimps in the video are struggling due to the Fukushima-treated water, saying 'poor marine lives' in the caption and linking to hashtag #Fukushima.
However, the original video was uploaded on Dec 23, 2021, by a user on Douyin, an app available in China that is owned by TikTok's parent company Bytedance. Since the Fukushima-treated water planned release started on Aug 24, 2023, it is not possible that the shrimp seen in the video were exposed to the water. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the water released by Japan into the ocean contains harmful radioactive material.
The video went viral on sites available in China and the online news site dzwww.com carried a report about the video in which it interviewed its original author who debunked the false claim that the video was related to radioactive contamination or Fukushima. In comments translated into English from Chinese by Leadf Stories staff, the video's author Mr. Han explained that the original video was filmed in Zhanjiang, Nansha Island, Guangdong, where a large number of shrimp appeared on the beach because water was released from a shrimp breeding pond, causing the shrimp to escape.
