By AUDREY McAVOY
Associated Press
HONOLULU — The head of an expedition that sailed from Japan to Hawaii to look for tsunami debris said Tuesday the group found a truck tire, part of a boat, and a Japanese straw floor mat during their monthlong voyage.
Marcus Eriksen, executive director of the 5 Gyres Institute, said he’s confident large waves generated by last year’s magnitude 9.0-earthquake off Japan washed the three items into the ocean. But he acknowledged they may be from some other part of Japan, or may not be tsunami related.
The boat’s hull has a ship’s name written in black Japanese script. Eriksen said he’s asking contacts in Japan to help him find the boat’s owners.
“To see this boat and know that it belonged to someone, our first concern is, is that person still alive? Are they OK?” Eriksen said.
He also wants to find the owner to ask permission to use the boat in an exhibition.
Eriksen said the expedition found the items in an area where scientists predicted ocean currents would carry tsunami debris.
He believes they were dragged into the ocean around the time of the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami because they would be unlikely to last at sea if they were much older, Eriksen said.
“I can’t say with 100 percent accuracy. But a high degree of confidence is the best I can say,” he said.
Debris from the tsunami initially formed a thick mass in the ocean off Japan’s northeastern coast.
But ocean currents have dispersed the pieces.
“The debris field from the tsunami is much more widespread than most people think,” Eriksen said. “There’s not going to be a wave or avalanche of debris washing ashore. It could be a trickle of debris hitting the coast of North America.”
Some items have already come ashore, including a dock that floated ashore on an Oregon beach last month.
The tsunami generated 20 million to 25 million tons of debris, including what was left on land. University of Hawaii researchers estimate a small share — only 1 to 5 percent of the 1 to 2 million tons of debris still in the ocean earlier this year — would likely reach U.S. and Canadian shorelines.
The plastic items in the debris field will join other plastic trash that ocean currents have been collecting in a gyre between Hawaii and California.
Plastic is accumulating in the ocean because it slowly breaks down into smaller pieces but doesn’t completely decompose in the environment.
