Federal officials said Wednesday that based on wind and currents, the floating dock suspected of being 2011 tsunami debris from Japan could be headed toward Kauai.

"That’s where our modeling shows it could go," said Ben Sherman, a spokesman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The Coast Guard has issued a warning to mariners about the dock and advises them to use caution when operating in the area from northwest of Kauai and north of Oahu to Molokai.

Mariners are asked to notify the Coast Guard or state Department of Land and Natural Resources if they encounter the floating dock. "Information from the public is incredibly important when it comes to these things," said Chief Petty Officer Kurt Fredrickson.

Sherman said the calculations from the Coast Guard are based on a combination of factors, including the buoyancy of the dock and its relative exposure to winds.

"They move along at a faster rate than the water currents," he said. "It all varies in size and it all rides differently in the water."

The National Weather Service forecast through 6 p.m. today calls for east winds of 20 to 25 knots (23 to 29 mph), with gusts up to 30 knots, and seas of 7 to 10 feet.

Sherman said that if the floating dock is found, officials will put a tracking device on it if possible and develop a plan for what to do with it. He said officials might decide to tow it to land or sink it.

The 50-by-30-foot dock was last seen by Maui fishermen on the afternoon of Sept. 19, about 15 miles northwest of Molokai.

Its deck had Japanese writing on it and was similar to a concrete dock from the tsunami that beached on the Oregon coast in June, one of the fishermen said.

Sherman said during normal training missions on Friday and Saturday, the Coast Guard made three reconnaissance flights but found nothing.

He said tracking down tsunami debris is like finding a "single human hair on a football field."

Fredrickson said federal and state agencies are working together to look at floating objects suspected of being marine debris from the 2011 Japan tsunami.

The first confirmed sighting of marine debris from the 2011 tsunami to arrive in Hawaii was a 4-by-4-foot blue container found floating 150 yards off Windward Oahu on Sept. 18.

State officials said they found no invasive species in the container or unusual levels of radioactivity.

State health spokeswoman Janice Okubo said officials do not expect much radioactivity in the tsunami debris.

She said the tsunami debris was swept into the ocean before the nuclear plant problems in Japan.