Nearly one year after the first debris from Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami washed up on the West End’s ocean shoreline, the state has released a plan to respond to the growing mess:
Use lots of volunteers.
“No state, federal or local entity has the funding, authority or responsibility to remove nonhazardous debris from Washington’s coastal beaches,” concluded the report, which was created by a task force and distributed by the state Department of Ecology.
The plan released Monday says the bulk of the cleanup must be done by volunteers and volunteer organizations, while state and federal agencies will assist as needed to remove items that need special equipment, training or handling.
The task force will host community meetings in Port Angeles, Long Beach and Ocean Shores to discuss the plan, Ecology said.
No dates have been announced.
In August, the state received a $50,000 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — or NOAA — to fund trash bins to be placed at popular beaches, to purchase trash bags and gloves, and to employ crews with the Washington Conservation Corps, or WCC.
The state is working with communities to determine places for bins and to distribute trash bags and gloves, and some already have been placed, said Linda Kent, state Department of Ecology spokeswoman.
State Parks asked that people who want to clean debris from beaches focus on small, non-natural items such as Styrofoam, cut lumber and plastic.
Volunteers are asked to leave natural wood and kelp because these are an important part of the beach ecosystem.
Since October, beach visitors in the Pacific Northwest have been finding items that could be traced to the March 11, 2011, tsunami, beginning with large floats that were used in Japanese shellfish farming, torn free by the tsunami and driven by winds ahead of the main body of debris.
The earthquake and tsunami claimed nearly 20,000 lives, destroyed homes and structures, and swept 5 million tons of debris into the Pacific Ocean.
An estimated 70 percent of the debris sank near Japan’s shore, while the remaining 1.5 million tons of debris entered ocean currents.
The largest part of the debris field is expected to reach western U.S. and Canadian shores this winter, Seattle oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer has said.
Gov. Chris Gregoire established a task force to coordinate state, federal and local activities to monitor and respond appropriately to marine debris along the Washington coast.
The task force, which began work in June, is led by Terry Egan of the state Military Department’s Emergency Management Division.
“The state marine debris response plan anticipates that incidents involving debris with high impact will be unique and impossible to predict,” Egan said.
Hazardous items will be removed by the state Department of Ecology, U.S. Coast Guard or Environmental Protection Agency.
Those items include spilled oil, drums and barrels, fuel tanks, gas cylinders, chemical totes and other containers with unknown fluids.
The state Department of Health radiation team will respond to any debris marked with words or symbols that indicate it may be radioactive.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor, located in the tsunami zone, experienced multiple meltdowns, and radioactive water was released from the plant into the ocean.
Health experts have said they do not expect to find any marine debris with elevated radiation levels. Earlier tests on debris items revealed only low background levels of radiation.
Beach-goers who encounter potentially hazardous debris should not touch or attempt to move it. Hazardous items should be reported to the state hotline at 855-922-6278.
The state Department of Fish and Wildlife will respond to possible invasive species attached to debris.
“The floating dock section that washed ashore near Newport, Ore., on June 5, 2012, had about 1.5 tons of marine growth, including several species that are classified as high risk in Oregon and more than 15 potentially invasive species in total,” the plan said.
“If this example of large marine debris is typical of others that will arrive soon, the risk of large-scale invasions of our coastal ecosystems and shellfish growing areas is large.”
The full text of the marine debris plan is available at http://marinedebris.wa.gov.
NOAA is collecting information about tsunami debris. Report debris sightings, including the time, date, location and any photos, to DisasterDebris@noaa.gov.
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
