Flotsam from Japan's tsunami to hit US West Coast

[Liberal_in_LA]

Flotsam from Japan's tsunami to hit US West Coast
By PHUONG LE, Associated Press


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 washed up barnacled but otherwise unworn.

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 the coastal town of Forks, Wash.


Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/04/01/state/n023333D19.DTL#ixzz1IKminYpY

[csziggy]

1. That's why NPR had the Moby Duck interview the other day

'Moby-Duck': When 28,800 Bath Toys Are Lost At Sea
In 1992, 28,800 rubber ducks were lost at sea. What happened to them is the subject of Donovan Hohn's book Moby-Duck.

Published: March 29, 2011

In 1992, a cargo ship container tumbled into the North Pacific, dumping 28,000 rubber ducks and other bath toys that were headed from China to the U.S. Currents took them, and news reports said some may have eventually reached Maine and other shores on the Atlantic.

Thirteen years later, journalist Donovan Hohn undertook a mission: He wanted to track the movements of the wayward ducks, from the comfort of his own living room.

"I figured I'd interview a few oceanographers, talk to a few beachcombers, read up on ocean currents and Arctic geography and then write an account of the incredible journey of the bath toys lost at sea," he tells Fresh Air's Dave Davies. "And all this I would do, I hoped, without leaving my desk."

But Hohn's research led him on an odyssey that took him from Seattle to Alaska to Hawaii — and then onto China and the Arctic. He details the journey — via plane, foot and container ship — in Moby-Duck: The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them.

More: http://m.npr.org/news/Books/134923863

Those ducks are now arriving in England after being lost in the mid-Pacific in 1992. I wonder how long it will take the debris from Japan to make it that far?

[freshwest]

3. I wonder how many marine animals died from swallowing them. Humanity FAIL.

[Cetacea]

4. Probably none(too smart).Being forced to eat radioactive fish is another story.

[csziggy]

7. The original rubber duck "release" was an accident

A container ship had some shipping containers with bath toys wash over board. A scientist was already doing flotsam studies, trying to sort out ocean currents. When numbers of rubber ducks began showing up onshore he managed to track back what shipping company had lost a shipment of them by finding the insurance claims.

The information gained by studying that release has probably done more good for marine animals than the damage from some of the rubber ducks being swallowed.

It is a long involved story and the article at NPR is not very good. If you search for "rubber duck flotsam" there are a number of other articles that are more complete and links to the books about the subject.

[AndyTiedye]

2. May Need to Check it With a Geiger Counter

[Mimosa]

5. *eek* What goes out comes back. n/t

[GodlessBiker]

6. Yeah, but what about the jetsam.