PORT ANGELES — Along with rain and wind, next winter’s storms may begin to bring the bulk of tsunami debris to North Olympic Peninsula beaches.
The main body of debris from the massive earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan last March is expected to begin to arrive on the Washington coast in late 2012 or early 2013, Nir Barnea, West Coast regional director for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program, told more than 80 people Monday night.
Some of the early, wind-driven debris is thought to have already arrived on the Clallam County coast.
That is expected to be confirmed Thursday, when a group from the Japanese consulate in Seattle will visit Port Angeles to view items found by Surfrider beach cleanup volunteers.
In December, a large black float, thought to be from oyster farms on the coast of Sendai, Japan, was located in Neah Bay.
Since the discovery was announced, many other coastal residents reported similar finds in November and December.
Local governments have some time to plan for a possible inundation of materials on beaches, Barnea said.
Of the 25 million tons of material thought to have washed away from the Japanese coast, only a fraction will reach U.S. shores, he said.
But no one knows just how much that is, he said.
Most of the large items and rafts of debris have already been broken up by storms and are no longer visible in satellite imagery, Barnea said.
Much of the debris will become waterlogged and sink to the ocean floor.
So no one knows exactly how much will arrive on beaches, Barnea said.
Surfrider Foundation member Darryl Wood, who has been cleaning beaches since 1976, said the sheer volume of the problem may be overwhelming.
A recent beach cleanup filled a 12-foot trailer 8 feet high and 6 feet long, with debris weighing less than a ton.
And that was only normal beach debris, Wood said.
“Some beaches may collect so much debris that there is no beach left,” he said.
A study of currents in the Strait of Juan de Fuca by oceanographers Curtis Ebbesmeyer and Jim Ingraham showed that a large portion of any debris that makes its way to the ocean off Neah Bay and Vancouver Island is likely to be drawn into the Strait to wash up between Port Angeles and Port Townsend.
Representatives of Olympic National Park, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the city of Port Angeles and other agencies attended the meeting to learn more about how to deal with the tsunami debris.
“Like everyone else, we were there mostly to gather information,” said Kevin Ryan, U.S. Fish and Wildlife project leader of the Washington Maritime National Wildlife Refuge Complex.
Ryan said his agency has been monitoring NOAA’s website dedicated to the tsunami debris field, but he wanted to know more.
“We need to look at this, to develop protocols,” Ryan said.
Olympic National Park Superintendent Karen Gustin said the park has no plan in place now.
“We’ll be looking at it in the next six months,” she said.
Port Angeles already has a program to dispose of more typical beach debris and will make plans for any tsunami debris that appears within Port Angeles city limits, said Nathan West, director of community and economic development.
“We’ll make sure it’s taken care of,” West said.
NOAA has developed a method of reporting identifiable tsunami debris, Barnea said.
How to report debris
Anyone who finds “major items” at sea or on land that is suspected to have come from the Japan tsunami should email a photo of the item with a description and where and when it was found to disasterdebris@noaa.gov.
The wreckage of two boats confirmed as being from the tsunami have been located, one having come from the Fukushima area, Barnea said.
The boat from Fukushima has been tested for radiation.
“Radiation levels were normal,” he said.
Radiation leaks from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant didn’t occur until nearly two weeks after the wreckage had been pulled offshore, and any radiation that entered the ocean has been well-dissipated in ocean waters, he said.
Some of the debris may include human remains from more than 3,000 people still missing after the disaster, Barnea said.
Such finds should be immediately reported to local law enforcement by phoning 9-1-1, he said.
Some items that may be found could have personal importance to some Japanese people, Wood said.
“We need to define what is valuable and how to store it,” he said.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.