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Trey Smith

When a floating dock the size of a boxcar washed up on a sandy beach in Oregon, beachcombers got excited because it was the largest piece of debris from last year's tsunami in Japan to show up on the US west coast.

But scientists worried it represented a whole new way for invasive species of seaweed, crabs and other marine organisms to break the earth's natural barriers and further muck up the area's marine environments.

And more invasive species could be hitching rides on tsunami debris expected to arrive in the weeks and months to come.

"We know extinctions occur with invasions," said John Chapman, assistant professor of fisheries and invasive species specialist at Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center. "This is like arrows shot into the dark. Some of them could hit a mark."
~ from As Japan Debris Washes Up in the US, Scientists Fear Break in Natural Order via The Guardian ~

Living very near the Washington coastline, I am close to ground zero for these unwanted Japanese visitors! Who knows what kind of invasive species will wreak havoc in the environs of Pacific County.

One such visitor the article mentions -- though this one immigrated here from the East Coast -- is Spartina.

Spartina, an invasive cordgrass that’s not native to the west coast, is believed to have arrived in Willapa Bay in the late 1800s with oysters from the east coast. During the next 100 years, the plant invaded the tidal mudflats of Willapa Bay and currently infests up to 32 percent of the bay, destroying habitat for native plants and wildlife and threatening the important flyway used by migratory shorebirds. In addition, Spartina eliminates shellfish seed beds, threatening the $30 million local shellfish industry.

As mentioned above, this cordgrass arrived in our area very innocently. Unfortunately, it has taken root and our cash-strapped county spends millions of dollars each year to try to eradicate it...with little success!

What's worse is that the county employs all sorts of noxious chemicals to try to get the job done. Not only have these poisons not proven to be all that effective, but now the bay is in even worse shape because of all the toxins introduced.

So, while beachcombers get all excited at the idea of finding debris washed ashore from Japan, county officials are holding their breath.