Japanese lumber and household goods have begun appearing on the British Columbia coast in what many locals think is the vanguard of a wave of debris from last March’s Japanese tsunami that will eventually clog West Coast beaches with cars, boats and even waterlogged houses.
“I found more debris in 10 minutes than I have in four years … and it’s all Japanese in origin,” said Perry Schmunk, Mayor of Tofino, a community of 1,600 on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
In addition to Japanese drink bottles, Mr. Schmunk said he has found toothbrushes and a child’s sock.
Known in Japan as the T?hoku earthquake and tsunami, the March 11 disaster killed upwards of 20,000 people and swept away an estimated 200,000 buildings. This fall, researchers at the University of Hawaii claimed that 20 million tonnes of debris had been washed to sea by the tsunami, and that, according to their models, it would not hit North America until 2013. In late September, a Russian ship reported sailing through a field of tsunami debris near the Midway Islands — about 5,000 kilometres west of the B.C. coast. Crew members described seeing furniture, appliances and a 20-foot fishing boat from Fukushima, the area hardest hit by the tsunami.
Nevertheless, in early November Seattle-based oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer predicted that tsunami debris could begin washing up “within days.” On Dec. 15, Neah Bay, Wash., lay claim to being the first community to find tsunami debris after beach-cleaning crews discovered a Japanese buoy the size of an oil barrel.
“The ocean’s very turbulent, you can’t just predict where something is going to go. It’s like trying to trace cigarette smoke in a room,” said Jody Klymak, an assistant professor of oceanography at the University of Victoria.
Last week, the University of Hawaii confirmed that lighter items may be drifting east faster than expected. “If the item is light and sticks out of the water … the wind can push it much more quickly than heavier objects,” said a university news release.
Asian items washing up in Tofino is not out of the ordinary. Bottles with Indian, Thai and Chinese writing are frequently found bobbing in the surf — and entire books have been written about combing West Coast beaches for Japanese-origin glass fishing floats. “Now’s the time of year when things wash up anyways,” said Krissy Montgomery, owner of Tofino’s Surf Sister Surf School.
But locals say the odd thing this year is not only the quantity of debris, but the discovery of dimensional lumber: boards, planks and entire roofing trusses — all bearing Japanese export stamps. “That’s something I’ve never seen before,” said Geoff Johnson, manager of Tofino’s Long Beach Radio.
In a Dec. 13 blog post, Mr. Johnson warned that these small discoveries are only the tip of a debris field that includes capsized fishing boats, rusted cars and other industrial debris — items that could spell ecological disaster for West Coast beaches.
“If a rusted-out tanker truck lands on the beach in front of one of the [First Nations] reservations, that’s going to be an issue,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.
Ultimately, tsunami debris could be an issue “that is much bigger than the district of Tofino alone could handle,” said Mr. Schmunk.
It is widely suspected that the buoyant remains of numerous tsunami victims are among the flotsam headed for North American shores.
For that reason, Mr. Ebbesmeyer has often called for debris discoveries to be treated similar to scenes of air crashes. “When people find something on the beach, they are literally putting their hands on something that a family wants to know about,” he told Postmedia in November.
Last week, Mr. Schmunk told CTV News that Tofino would treat the “whole thing with respect because everything that has come ashore has dealt with a significant human tragedy.”