Philippine fisherfolk, activists slam Japan's plan to dump nuclear wastewater into sea

MANILA, April 22 (Xinhua) -- Philippine fisherfolk and environmental activists on Thursday condemned Japan's plan to dump more than 1 million tonnes of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific ocean.

"We oppose any activity that will destroy the marine environment. We join the Japanese people and other countries in opposing the plan to dump radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean," Fernando Hicap, the leader of the national federation of small fishers in the Philippines, said in a statement.

Hicap also urged the Philippine government "to study the potential impact of (Japan's plan) to the country's fishing grounds."

Loren Legarda, the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives, stressed the need to conduct "an environmental impact assessment" by an international panel of experts to check the toxicity of the water.

"I think a rational environment impact assessment is in order (because) we need to understand if these fears are based on simply fears or if these are based on science," Legarda said in an online forum.

She said the panel should include experts from neighboring countries that will be affected.

"It is important for us and neighboring countries to have a resource accounting (that) would include our waters and the life of our waters, the sanctity of our waters," Legarda added.

Environmental activist Antonio Oposa said that Japan's plan is "illegal", calling the move "marine pollution from land sources covered by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea."

"The nuclear water is poison. I urged the people in the government to do something about it," Oposa said in the forum.