Ponape is the only extensive commercial fishery conducted
About sixty tons of
by the inhabitants of the Trust Territory.
tuna per week are taken by Ponape fishermen for shipment to
Guam.
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In an estimation of amounts of radioactivity ingested
by the natives at Ponape from eating fish,
it should be noted
The usual practice is for
that livers are preferred to flesh.
the fishermen, their families and friends to eat the livers
from the fish and sell the remainder.
This practice results
in a tenfold increase in the amount of potential radiation
hazard for these people over the normal expectancy where only
the muscle of the tuna is used for food.
The best estimate currently available to us of fish consumption in the Caroline Islands is about 250 grams per person
per day.
Because a major part of the 250-gram fish consumption
is composed of liver,
the amount of radioactive materials in-
gested by some of the native people may exceed the permissible
levels for mixed fission products as given in the National
Bureau of Standards
Handbook 52. *
** Maximum permissible amounts of radioisotopes in the human
body and maximum permissible concentrations
National Bureau of Standards,
Washington, D.C,
U.S.
in air and water, "
Department of Commerce,
HOE
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