Five Million Tonnes of Debris

"If it does hit - because it might just sit out there for years - but if it does hit, I don't know what you do about it.

"There's no landfill on Earth that's big enough to take it, so what are you going to do with it, where are you going to put it?"                                                                               John Disney, economic development officer, Haida Gwaii, Old Massett

He is speaking of a massive "island of debris" difting through the Pacific on its way to the coast of North America.  An island of debris that could be full of toxic and radioactive elements.  It is so large that it displaces an area the combined size of British Columbia and Alberta. Throw in half of Saskatchewan for good measure.

Imagine that.  Oh, yes, one's imagination can be activated, but not to that extent.

Satellite images have revealed a massive debris field whose reality cannot be denied.  It is the result of the powerfully unprecedented earthquake that struck Japan in March of 2011.  And the hugely destructive tsunami that came afterward, knocking out one of Japan's nuclear installations.  The Japanese environment minisry itself has kept tabs on that floating island.

They estimate that starting in October roughly 40,000 tonnes of debris will reach ten kilometres off the North American shoreline by February.  "There's been virtually no sampling out in the debris field, nobody is quite sure exactly what is coming.  So it makes it hard to plan for cleaning anything up", said Vancouver Aquarium President John Nightingale.

"Where do you send [the volunteers]?  How do they clean up without imperilling human safety?  What do we do with the stuff we do find and collect?, asked Mr. Nightingale in a rhetorical panic.  He is hoping that the province's Ministry of Environment can come up up with a plan within 30 to 45 days.

In June, a 21-metre-long dock floated ashore on a beach in Oregon.  A Harley-Davidson motorcycle still in its shipping container washed up around 6,400 kilometres away on Graham Island, off the B.C. coast.  Under international law Japan is under no obligation to take possession of such debris. 

But Japan is grateful for the outpouring of international support after its crisis.

And it has decided to help in the clean-up operation.  Technical assistance for disposal of debris may be possible through a non-governmental organization specializing in coastal ecosystems.  "That's amazing.  It's not like they did this to everybody, it's not their fault.  We should be helping them", said Mr. Disney.