The earthquake and tsunami which struck northern Japan just over a year ago was an unprecedented human tragedy. It claimed thousands of lives, destroyed complete communities, and touched off the failure of nuclear power plants. The tsunami also left a legacy which our West Coast states, thousands of miles from the epicenter, are dealing with now and will deal with for many years to come. Marine debris is nothing new. Many now recognize marine debris as a threat to fish, marine mammals...
More DescriptionThe earthquake and tsunami which struck northern Japan just over a year ago was an unprecedented human tragedy. It claimed thousands of lives, destroyed complete communities, and touched off the failure of nuclear power plants. The tsunami also left a legacy which our West Coast states, thousands of miles from the epicenter, are dealing with now and will deal with for many years to come. Marine debris is nothing new. Many now recognize marine debris as a threat to fish, marine mammals and seabirds, through death by entanglement and ingestion. The tsunami unleashed debris on an unprecedented scale. Some 5 million tons were swept out to sea. While most quickly sank, NOAA estimates 1.5 million tons of tsunami-generated debris is still afloat and being driven by winds and currents toward the West Coast of North America. That is 3 billion pounds of mostly plastic trash which will flood into our inter-tidal ecosystems and it is already here.