henric
03-25-2012, 01:24 AM
A 54-metre-long fishing vessel that was set adrift after last year's devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan has been spotted off the coast of British Columbia. No one is aboard the vessel, Canadian officials say.
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An airline contracted by the federal government first spotted the rusting ship last Tuesday about 140 nautical miles off the southern tip of Haida Gwaii, formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands.
The vessel has been identified as coming from Hokkaido, Japan, and officials say it is drifting very slowly towards shore.
Jeff Olsson of Victoria's Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre says there's no risk of environmental damage. However, a warning has gone out to mariners because the vessel poses a potential navigational hazard.
The trawler is believed to be part of a massive debris field -- linked to the twin disasters -- that is making its way across the Pacific Ocean. As much as five million tonnes of debris were swept into the ocean when a massive magnitude-9 earthquake and resulting tsunami struck Japan in March 2011.
Nearly 19,000 people were killed in the disaster.
Roads, homes and marinas were destroyed by the lethal wave. Scientists predicted that debris from the disaster would make its way across the Pacific Ocean to the North American coast.
Last fall, material began washing up on B.C.'s West Coast – from plastic bottles to more personal items such as babies' clothing and toiletries, all bearing Japanese lettering. A Tofino resident on B.C.'s West Coast began cataloguing the material in an archive.
At the time, Tofino Mayor Perry Schmunk told local media that he found the discoveries both eerie and sad.
In early December, a Japanese fishing float was found in Neah Bay on Washington State's northwest tip. It was thought to have come from an oyster farm in the stricken area.
However, other scientists cautioned that the material discovered last fall wasn't necessarily related to the tsunami. They predicted that Japanese debris won't hit North American shores until 2014 at the earliest.
With files from The Canadian Press
13822
An airline contracted by the federal government first spotted the rusting ship last Tuesday about 140 nautical miles off the southern tip of Haida Gwaii, formerly known as the Queen Charlotte Islands.
The vessel has been identified as coming from Hokkaido, Japan, and officials say it is drifting very slowly towards shore.
Jeff Olsson of Victoria's Joint Rescue Co-ordination Centre says there's no risk of environmental damage. However, a warning has gone out to mariners because the vessel poses a potential navigational hazard.
The trawler is believed to be part of a massive debris field -- linked to the twin disasters -- that is making its way across the Pacific Ocean. As much as five million tonnes of debris were swept into the ocean when a massive magnitude-9 earthquake and resulting tsunami struck Japan in March 2011.
Nearly 19,000 people were killed in the disaster.
Roads, homes and marinas were destroyed by the lethal wave. Scientists predicted that debris from the disaster would make its way across the Pacific Ocean to the North American coast.
Last fall, material began washing up on B.C.'s West Coast – from plastic bottles to more personal items such as babies' clothing and toiletries, all bearing Japanese lettering. A Tofino resident on B.C.'s West Coast began cataloguing the material in an archive.
At the time, Tofino Mayor Perry Schmunk told local media that he found the discoveries both eerie and sad.
In early December, a Japanese fishing float was found in Neah Bay on Washington State's northwest tip. It was thought to have come from an oyster farm in the stricken area.
However, other scientists cautioned that the material discovered last fall wasn't necessarily related to the tsunami. They predicted that Japanese debris won't hit North American shores until 2014 at the earliest.
With files from The Canadian Press