Prepare to corral ocean debris

The swirling field of plastics comprising what has been called The Great Pacific Garbage Patch northeast of Hawaii was disturbing, but the surfacing of home appliances near Hawaii’s beaches from Japan’s earthquake and tsunami is unnerving. While coordination on all governmental levels is crucial, federal agencies need to take the vigorous lead in dealing with the new level of ocean debris, while city officials should determine what to do with what comes ashore.

Less than a month after the March disaster in Japan, University of Hawaii scientists Nikolai Maximenko and Jan Hafner estimated that the flotsam would reach the ecologically sensitive northwestern Hawaiian islands within a year, brush the rest of Hawaii as early as January 2013, then reach the West Coast later that year. At the end, the debris is expected to merge with the Garbage Patch. The scientists now report that up to 20 million tons were dragged out to sea and now stretch 2,000 miles long and 1,000 miles wide.

"Everything that can float can possibly be in that field," said Hafner, a scientific computer programmer at UH’s School of Oceanic and Earth Science and Technology. Indeed, the Russian training ship STS Pallado in September retrieved a boat from the field and spotted a TV set, refrigerator, other appliances, drums, wash basins, fishing buoys, wood and many plastic bottles.

Fortunately, Hafner said no debris was found to have radiation, a concern due to Japan’s nuclear-power plant disaster. Gary Gill, Hawaii’s deputy health director for the environment, said his office is prepared for the possibility that some could be "tainted with radiation."

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency works to maximize states’ regulatory tools to limit trash in waterways. More on point, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program has been attentive, working with UH researchers, a Japan tsunami workgroup and fleets of vessels to monitor the debris (see http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/japanfaqs.html). The agency said that radioactive activity is "highly unlikely," and Hafner predicts that most of the tsunami debris will pass north of Hawaii.

City Councilwoman Tulsi Gabbard is not satisfied — and she and others monitoring the issue are right to view things proactively. As co-founder of the nonprofit Healthy Hawaii Coalition, Gabbard wants the city to work with state and federal agencies to prepare a plan to retrieve and dispose of the Japanese debris. Keeping Hawaii’s coastlines debris-free is already a continuous challenge, so getting a game plan ready across jurisdictional lines is wise. After all, it was the coalition and other volunteers who rallied to help pick up medical waste off Ko Olina beaches when the Waimanalo Gulch landfill overflowed during heavy January rains.

"It’s not a matter of if we’ll be affected, because will," Gabbard told the Star-Advertiser’s Dan Nakaso. "We need to be prepared. Where all of this debris and waste will be put is definitely an issue."

We agree — as does Stuart Coleman, Hawaii regional coordinator for the Surfrider Foundation, whose group has applied for a grant to organize volunteers for heavy marine debris cleanup and for disposal fees. He said his group’s volunteers now sweep Hawaii’s beaches of tons of refuse each year, and "our landfills are already overfilled" to be subjected to a "dramatic increase in the tons of debris we already collect."