A huge hunk of tsunami debris from Japan is drifting ever-closer to Hawaii’s shoreline. The chunk of debris was identified as a large piece of dock, was last seen floating off the coast near Molokai.
Fishermen first saw it Monday night about 30 miles north of Hana, Maui. Since then it has been moving closer to the shore and was sighted about 15 miles north of Molokai on Thursday. It is expected to touch ground Friday evening.
Two fishermen from Maui took their boat out to the dock to see it up close. The men said they found some writing on the floating debris that looked to be Japanese, and estimated that the dock’s surface is 50 feet long and 30 feet wide.
A similar Japanese dock washed up on Agate Beach near Newport in June. The dock headed toward Hawaiian shores has a surface area around 250-square-feet larger than the debris on Agate Beach. Oregon’s huge dock proved to be difficult, from controlling invasive species to the removal process.
One positive for the local economy was that the dock drew a large number of tourists to the area. Oregon-native Sam Taylor now works on a fishing boat in Oahu, and said that the publicity was both positive and negative.
“There was a lot of hubbub all about it. It was a tourist attraction, thousands of people were showing up to see it and they were worried about invasive species,” said Sam Taylor.
Invasive species, damage to reefs, nuclear contamination, danger to boats and the ensuing fiasco are all concerns with fisherman which is why they think the dock should be dealt with before it hits anything.
“I think if there is a giant barge out there floating like that it should be sunk as an artificial reef. Fish love structure. There’s always fish around any ship or barge that gets sunk. Fisherman would probably like it and it’s a hazard to all these shipping container ships and everything around. I would sink the thing,” said Taylor.
However some Maui fishermen like George White are concerned that large-scale debris like this dock remain largely undetected and can seriously damage boats.
2012 Fisher Communications, Inc.