Tsunami debris team reaches dock on rugged Wash. coast
FORKS, Wash. (AP) - Hiking over primitive coastal trails, a team reached a dock that apparently floated from Japan after last year's tsunami and just washed ashore on a Washington beach, and an official said the group found Japanese writing inside the structure.
The team of tsunami debris experts is trying to confirm that the dock is from Japan and drifted for more than a year before winding up on one of the most remote beaches on the U.S. West Coast.
The team did not find an identifying plaque like the one found on a dock that washed ashore last June at Newport, Ore., said Kim Schmanke, a spokeswoman for the state Ecology Department. That dock was confirmed as debris from the March 2011 Japanese tsunami.
The writing and fresh photos are being shared with the Japanese consulate in an effort to confirm this dock as tsunami debris, the spokeswoman said.
The debris team took live samples of potentially invasive species for lab analysis, inspected five dock surfaces and attached a tracking beacon. The crew also took samples to check for any radioactivity, although state Health Department experts consider that highly unlikely, Schmanke said.
The dock was spotted Tuesday by the Coast Guard on Washington's rugged Olympic Peninsula. The site is about five miles from the nearest road. On Thursday, a swollen stream blocked the debris team from reaching the dock.
The Washington dock is believed to be similar to the 165-ton concrete and steel dock that washed ashore at Newport. Looking like a railroad boxcar, it was 66 feet long, 19 feet wide and 7 feet high. A plaque identified it as one of four owned by Aomori Prefecture that broke loose from the port of Misawa during the tsunami.
Volunteers scraped off 2 tons of seaweed and creatures that were clinging to the Newport dock. Among them were four species - a seaweed, a sea star, a mussel and a shore crab - that are native to Japan and have established themselves as invasive species elsewhere, said Caren Braby, manager of marine resources for Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Officials won't know for a couple years whether any of them escaped to get a foothold in Oregon, she said. The scrapings were buried above the high water line. The dock was sterilized with torches, then cut up and removed last summer.
Photos taken Friday will be used to help develop a plan to remove the latest dock from the Washington beach, Schmanke said. No schedule has been set for removal.
As of Dec. 13, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had received 1,432 debris reports, of which 17 have been confirmed as tsunami origin.
The team of tsunami debris experts is trying to confirm that the dock is from Japan and drifted for more than a year before winding up on one of the most remote beaches on the U.S. West Coast.
The team did not find an identifying plaque like the one found on a dock that washed ashore last June at Newport, Ore., said Kim Schmanke, a spokeswoman for the state Ecology Department. That dock was confirmed as debris from the March 2011 Japanese tsunami.
The writing and fresh photos are being shared with the Japanese consulate in an effort to confirm this dock as tsunami debris, the spokeswoman said.
The debris team took live samples of potentially invasive species for lab analysis, inspected five dock surfaces and attached a tracking beacon. The crew also took samples to check for any radioactivity, although state Health Department experts consider that highly unlikely, Schmanke said.
The dock was spotted Tuesday by the Coast Guard on Washington's rugged Olympic Peninsula. The site is about five miles from the nearest road. On Thursday, a swollen stream blocked the debris team from reaching the dock.
The Washington dock is believed to be similar to the 165-ton concrete and steel dock that washed ashore at Newport. Looking like a railroad boxcar, it was 66 feet long, 19 feet wide and 7 feet high. A plaque identified it as one of four owned by Aomori Prefecture that broke loose from the port of Misawa during the tsunami.
Volunteers scraped off 2 tons of seaweed and creatures that were clinging to the Newport dock. Among them were four species - a seaweed, a sea star, a mussel and a shore crab - that are native to Japan and have established themselves as invasive species elsewhere, said Caren Braby, manager of marine resources for Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.
Officials won't know for a couple years whether any of them escaped to get a foothold in Oregon, she said. The scrapings were buried above the high water line. The dock was sterilized with torches, then cut up and removed last summer.
Photos taken Friday will be used to help develop a plan to remove the latest dock from the Washington beach, Schmanke said. No schedule has been set for removal.
As of Dec. 13, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration had received 1,432 debris reports, of which 17 have been confirmed as tsunami origin.
"apparently floated from Japan" and "trying to confirm that the dock is from Japan." It's FROM JAPAN. Why the questions? Where else would it be from? How thick are these so-called "tsunami debris experts?"
Seriously, "Tsunami debris team"?
 @Grumpa Seeing as how there could be millions of tons of debris washing up on Washington's shores in the next year or so, I am glad they have teams in place.  The Japanese tsunami was unprecedented in terms of industrial, agricultural and marine debris scoured off the coast of Japan, and it's headed this way.
Ya know, sometimes I think we should just be counting our blessings we haven't had to deal with a major catastrophe (other than a really bad case of fiscal irresponsibility) up in these parts in a long time. Those folks over there paid a hefty price in loss of life and limb (not to mention financially). The earthquake alone was horrific; the tsunami that followed was much worse than that. I fear "the big one".
Bill the Japanese for this mess. They have lots of $$, we don't. Let private companies take care of this crap too. Or else it'll sit there forever while our government trips over itself looking for answers. Burn that mother down!
 Yeah. Its all about numero uno. Forget that the marine life has to deal with this trash as well. As long as its not in your backyard, who cares????
American Government has to request expenses for cleaning from Japanese Government..!!!!! Â Â
Inspect it, take your samples and then burn that sucker to ashes.
 @Mumblix Grumph There is lots of styrofoam in those things. Burning them puts lots of pollutants in the air and it is illegal to burn it.
Can we get a better idea of the exact location?Â
Should have allowed the Navy to deal with it when it was in the middle of now where. It would have been good target practice.
 @Nightshift Then we would have had lots of smaller pieces of styrofoam floating on the beaches and killing marine life because it looked like food to them. Would have been best that when the fishermen found it about 15 miles out to have had them stick around long enough to get a chopper there and planted a tracking device on it so they could have towed it to a harbor somewhere.
 @Nightshift But then we wouldn't have a need for "The team of tsunami debris experts".
I say let mother nature take it's course with the dock.Because to remove it would be a whole boondoggle more of tax payer's money.
 @F4I After confirming that there were invasive species on the dock that washed up in Oregon, it was torched so they couldn't reproduce here. Ignoring it and letting those creatures colonize here would be foolish since they could negatively impact native species.
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 @OlyVonKanSheet  @F4I In effect you advocate interfering with the natural order.  After all, "invasive" species hitchhike on the wind, on trees, etc.  The use many different methods of spreading to new areas.  For example, humans crossing the land bridge from Siberia to Alaska is on example. Â
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Isn't this movement of species all a part of the "natural" order?
Go to:Â Â http://marinedebris.wa.gov/Â Â Â if you see more . . .
Wow so we have the Washington Tsunami debris team of experts! How much is that boondoggle costing the tax payers.