US EPA and NOAA, Japan Tsunami Debris Bulletin

 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) Region 9 and the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) continue to collaborate with Federal, State and local partners as well as external stakeholders to assess and monitor the movement of the Japan tsunami marine debris (JTMD). In addition to continued monitoring of potential impacts on Midway Atoll and the other Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI), recent efforts have focused on monitoring/detection strategies to minimize any impacts along the U.S. West Coast, British Columbia and Alaska.  One derelict vessel traced back to the tsunami was sighted off the coast of British Columbia the third week of March.  The fishing trawler, 164 foot Ryou-Un Maru, from Hokkaido, Japan, was deemed a navigation hazard and sunk by the U.S. Coast Guard on April 5 in 6,000 feet of water in the Gulf of Alaska, about 180 miles west of the southeast Alaska coast.