SEATTLE — John Anderson has discovered just about everything during the 30 years he’s combed Washington state’s beaches — glass fishing floats, hockey gloves, bottled messages, even hundreds of mismatched pairs of Nike sneakers that fell from a container ship.
The biggest haul may come in one to three years when, scientists say, wind and ocean currents eventually will push some of the massive debris from Japan’s tsunami and earthquake onto the shores of the U.S. West Coast.
“I’m fascinated to see what actually makes it over here, compared to what might sink or biodegrade out there,” said Anderson, 57, a plumber and avid beachcomber who lives in Forks, Wash.
The floating debris will likely be carried by currents off of Japan toward Washington, Oregon and California before turning toward Hawaii and back again toward Asia, circulating in what is known as the North Pacific gyre, said Curt Ebbesmeyer, a Seattle oceanographer who has spent decades tracking flotsam.
Ebbesmeyer is now tracking the massive debris field moving across the Pacific Ocean from Japan. He relies heavily on a network of thousands of beachcombers such as Anderson to report the location and details of their finds.
“If you put a major city through a trash grinder and sprinkle it on the water, that’s what you’re dealing with,” he said.
As to whether any of the debris might be radioactive from the Japanese nuclear crisis, James Hevezi, chairman of the American College of Radiology Commission on Medical Physics, said there could be.
“But it would be very low risk,” Hevezi said. “The amount that would be on the stuff by the time it reached the West Coast would be minimal.”
Only a small portion of that debris will wash ashore, and how fast it gets there and where it lands depends on buoyancy, material and other factors. Fishing vessels or items that poke out of the water and are more influenced by wind may show up in a year, while items like lumber pieces, survey stakes and household wares may take two to three years. The Associated Press
