Boats continue to roll in, as spring winds dissipate

As spring's easterly winds die down (at least for now), what is likely the last of the wave of boats to reach US shores is rolling in.

Despite a Memorial Day Weekend with relatively calm weather, 3 boats were found on Washington beaches, as well as one boat in Oregon (by me!). Another boat has been reported south of Waldport, Oregon but has yet to be located.

The first of the three Washington boats was found near Ocean Park on May 23, and was approximately 20 feet long. It included mainly Lepas antifera, pelagic gooseneck barnacles.


Next, 2 more boats were sighted on May 24 in the Long Beach Washington area near Seaview Beach and Bolstad Beaches by Washington State Parks Recreation Commission Long Beach Area manager Tom Benenati. Benenati helped with sampling the boat and coordinated the removal of them from the beach, where they will await identification and communication from the Japanese Consulate.

The three vessels that washed ashore in Washington State this Memorial Day weekend. Photo: Thomas Benenati, WSPRC

Lastly, my discovery on May 26 (Monday) is evidence that you never know what you are going to find on the beach! I had journeyed down the South Trail at Cape Lookout with my boyfriend and spotted the partial bow of a boat about 1/2 a mile up the beach. Evidence that preparedness is everything, I of course had no proper camera or bags for collecting samples of any sort. Working against the impending rain storm, we removed a few of the ~20 mussels from the boat and snapped some photos with my iPhone. I am sorry to say that I of all people was not more prepared for this one! The boat was only a partial deck (the bow end) with a rectangular hold containing a few clumps of mussels, bristly hydroids, and the remains of some very sad-looking gooseneck barnacles- the boat had likely been sitting for a duration of several days.

The boat section as I found it on Memorial Day. Partial covering in sand and lack of marine life suggests it had been there for a while. (Photo: Sheanna Steingass)

This brings our boat total since April 23, 2014 up to 25 vessels! This number is a reminder that we should really appreciate all of the parks employees, ODFW/WDFW employees, scientists, non-profits, and volunteers for the tremendous amount of work that they have put in the last 2 years.  Many folks have devoted a lot of their time quickly responding to, cleaning up, and studying the tsunami debris that has reached our shores.  Keep up the good, and very important work that is keeping our beaches clean and safe!

The moral of the story is, it never hurts to bring the basic beachcombing essentials with you on the beach- gloves, bags, and a camera.
 

Two more boats, dock section wash ashore in Oregon

Adding to the enormous amount of marine debris that has washed ashore on eastern Pacific shores this week, two more boats (one intact, the other partial) and a small section of floating dock have washed ashore in Oregon today.

The first boat, although somewhat dilapidated, contained some biological surprises-  three live sea stars, an anemone, mussels and the giant red barnacle which has made many appearances- Balanus rosa. 

The boat found at Carter Lake that contained 3 live sea stars. (Photo: Scott Groth, ODFW)

The sea stars have been confirmed to be of the species Patiria pectinifera, a Japanese species- meaning they have made the journey intact across the Pacific Ocean.  Sea stars are predators, so they likely survived by eating barnacles and bivalves attached to the boat as it floated.  The concern is that invasive species could continue to do this and establish themselves in the rocky intertidal zones of the United States and Canada- potentially displacing important keystone predators such as purple and sunflower sea stars.

Some very cool, but potentially invasive sea stars were found hitchhiking aboard the vessel.  (Photo: Scott Groth, ODFW)

The second boat came ashore near Tahkenitch Lake and was in excellent condition.  It was approximately 22 feet in length, and had an intact hull ID plate, which will help to trace the vessel back to its original port and owner.  The boat was much less biologically diverse, and contained mostly pelagic gooseneck barnacles.

Boat ID plate that may help trace the boat back to it's origins (Photo: Scott Groth, ODFW)

The intact vessel that washed ashore.  (Photo: Scott Groth, ODFW)

Lastly, near the outlet of the Suislaw River (adding to the pattern that marine debris tends to wash up near fresh water outlets), a small section of dock as well as a net washed up.  The dock section was approximately 6' x 4' x 4' and had two live limpets on it.  Limpets have been an unusual occurrence on Japanese tsunami marine debris thus far, but have made a couple appearances in this recent pulse of items from Japan.

The section of concrete dock that washed ashore near the Siuslaw River (Photo: Scott Groth, ODFW)

A graph showing the increase in boats found since 2012.  That number has more the doubled in the last month- this number is only representative of reported boats; there are likely many more. (Sheanna Steingass)

 Reports of more major and culturally-significant debris are likely to pour in these coming weeks- come back soon!

A special thanks to Scott Groth (ODFW) for the excellent sample collection and photography of the latest debris.