Tsunami debris litters B.C. beaches
MARK HUME
VANCOUVER The Globe and Mail
PublishedMonday, Jan. 28 2013, 8:37 PM EST
Last updatedTuesday, Jan. 29 2013, 11:06 AM EST
Debris from the tsunami that struck Japan two years ago is building up on
West Coast beaches, with everything from soccer balls to floating docks
drifting ashore from Alaska to California.
Peter Barratt, operations manager for West Coast Helicopters, has been
looking down on British Columbias rugged Pacific coastline for much of the
past 30 years and he has never seen as much garbage as he did on a recent
reconnaissance flight along northwest Vancouver Island with Will Soltau, of
the Living Oceans Society.
In a flight that took them along the remote outer coast, the two men said
they saw garbage scattered on almost every beach for more than 100
kilometres. Mr. Barratt, a pilot with decades of experience on the coast,
said it is clear large amounts of debris from the tsunami, which hit Japan
in March, 2011, are coming ashore. He said large blocks of white Styrofoam
are easy to spot from the air, but there is a lot of other less visible
debris down there, scattered in with the drift logs.
I think theres three to four times the amount of the high floating stuff,
like big chunks of Styrofoam, and then five to 10 times the amount of
smaller debris, said Mr. Barratt, a co-founder of West Coast Helicopters,
based in Port McNeill.
Of course theres always debris on the beaches, he added. But I dropped
down
and, holy crap, all of a sudden you see all this stuff. You can tell
the stuff thats been there for awhile because its dull and faded. The new
stuff is shiny, and theres a lot of it.
Mr. Barratt said much of the debris is probably too small to be cleaned up,
but he thinks something should be done to get the big blocks of Styrofoam
off the beaches. That Styrofoam is disgusting, he said. Im sure some of
that
you could haul it out of there.
The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration states on its
website that the public should be cautious in handling any debris that might
be contaminated by chemicals or other toxic compounds, but radioactivity
(released when the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was damaged) is not
of concern.
There is no reason to avoid beaches, states NOAA. Radiation experts
believe it is highly unlikely any debris is radioactive, and the debris is
not in a mass.
Mr. Soltau, manager of Living Oceans Clear the Coast marine debris program,
said flotsam from the tsunami will be drifting ashore in B.C. for several
more months. I expect the worst isnt over yet, he said. Based on what
the oceanographers say, the debris will continue to come ashore
through
next summer.
Mr. Soltau said the helicopter flight was an eye-opener for him in terms of
how much debris has already come ashore.
Once the weather starts to improve we hope to get some eyes on the ground
and do a more detailed analysis, he said. When you start walking among the
driftwood and see all the flip-flops, the running shoes, the bits of
broken-down plastic
it strikes you, the impact humans have had .
Mr. Soltau said on one rocky outcrop the helicopter flight located an
overturned Japanese fishing skiff, heavily encrusted with gooseneck
barnacles, and nearby were two life jackets with Japanese writing on them.
When we landed to examine the skiff it left me with a different feeling,
he said. I couldnt stop thinking about all the lives that were lost.
The Living Oceans Society is encouraging beachcombers and others on the
waterfront to document the locations of tsunami debris and is organizing
volunteer cleanup drives.
The B.C. government is tracking tsunami debris in a co-ordinated effort with
the states of Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California. An estimated 1.5
million tonnes of debris is eventually expected to hit the West Coast. One
of the largest pieces was a 185-ton, 20-metre floating dock, which came
ashore near Forks, Wash.
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