To document the debris, the Marine Conservation Alliance has mobilized groups of environmentalists up and down the Alaskan coast. Among the masses of material, they are finding thousands of Styrofoam boxes the size of 55 gallon drums and piles of Styrofoam broken up into tiny pieces. They are a real threat to fish, Burden said.
There are also mounds of plastic, Japanese fishing buoys, kerosene flagons, bottles of rat poison, and drums of kerosene products.
The beaches, previous tourist destinations for their pristine beauty, are now “littered with rubble,” Burden said, “Styrofoam everywhere, leaked stuff hardening on the shore.”
The NOAA is alert to the problem and is working with other U.S. coastal regions to the south of Alaska, including Washington state, California, Oregon, and Hawaii.
Through its 13-man Marine Debris Program, the NOAA is working to understand the scope of the threat and is collecting data on debris quantity, type, movement, and impact, David Kennedy, assistant administrator for the NOAA’s Ocean Services and Coastal Resource Management, told the Senate hearing.
The debris is now in an area three times the size of the contiguous United States, Kennedy said, and varies from buoyant wind-driven debris, to partially submerged or just-below-the-surface debris that is carried by sea currents.
Mindful that large pieces of debris could block shipping lanes, Kennedy said that NOAA has mobilized an array of strategies in an endeavor to pinpoint those pieces and predict where they might come ashore.
“NOAA has coordinated with groups who regularly have ‘eyes on the water’ to report back debris sightings, including shipping fleets, commercial fishing vessels, and scientific fleets such as University-National Oceanographic Laboratory System vessels,” he told the hearing.
National airlines, satellites, and at-sea technologies have also been recruited, Kennedy said, and discussions were planned with communities in California, Oregon, and Hawaii to monitor the coast.
Meetings have already been held in Washington state and Alaska, he said.
Also aware that the ghost ship had drifted right into U.S. territory without being picked up by U.S. surveillance—it was reported to the U.S. by Canadian authorities—Kennedy said they were now working with high-level U.S. security surveillance to better detect larger debris on its way to the U.S. coast.
West Coast communities, however, want to know more. In a prepared statement, Robert Andrew, mayor of Long Beach, Wash., wanted to know what the plans were if hazardous material turned up: who would be responsible, what the lines of communication were, and “the $64,000 question”—who would organize and pay for the cleanup.
The city is reliant on a long-established fishing industry and tourism for its economy, he said.
“If the debris is heavy or dangerous, it could keep the visitors and summer residents we are so dependent on away, and that would be disastrous for our economy and for the 230 small businesses located in Long Beach,” he said.
Andrew noted stories in the Alaskan press showing banners reading: “Shame on us for not being prepared.”
“We have had a year to get prepared and Washington, too, will have few excuses when the day comes,” he stated.
His concerns were passed on to the hearing by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) who, along with Sen. Begich and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), grilled Kennedy for answers.
What is the national plan and who is going to pay for it, Sen. Begich asked.
Kennedy responded. “We don’t have the funds to mount a cleanup, especially in areas remote like Alaska and Hawaii.” Nor did Kennedy volunteer a plan.
He did note that the event was a new one for the NOAA, that his team was small, and that funding had been cut back in the last budget. He said he would get back to the committee with information, as it surfaced.
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