Are they talking about one of the tsunamis that smashed the Japanese nuclear plants? Was this something that happened prior to the initiating earthquake itself? A scientific explanation would be interesting. Could also sniff out incipient earthquakes elsewhere perhaps.
Oh, this is a tsunami already under way. Seismographs would have already “felt” the earthquake.
They already know that marine wildlife around an underground earthquake fault ready to blow start acting really strange, beaching themselves, etc. This happens several days ahead on the event.
Why they aren’t watching the animals for this behavior as part of a system - well it ought to be considered too.