Invasive Species Ride Tsunami Debris To US Shore

An anonymous reader writes "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 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 West Coast's marine environments. And more invasive species could be hitching rides on tsunami debris expected to arrive in the weeks and months to come."

Comments

Attention, "Fittest":

[notgm]

Start surviving....NOW!

Sincerely,
Nature.

Re:Attention, "Fittest":

[ArhcAngel]

This is the first thing I thought of. Isn't this how nature prunes and purges and refreshes itself?

Re:Attention, "Fittest":

[Anonymous Coward]

I believe the concern here is mostly due to the amount of man-made debris, thus increasing the odds of invasive species transfer to well beyond what would have been found in nature. Just because "survival of the fittest" is the way nature works, doesn't mean that trying to spur on a battle royal of all the world's species is a good thing.

Re:Attention, "Fittest":

[ColdWetDog]

I believe the concern here is mostly due to the amount of man-made debris, thus increasing the odds of invasive species transfer to well beyond what would have been found in nature. Just because "survival of the fittest" is the way nature works, doesn't mean that trying to spur on a battle royal of all the world's species is a good thing.

But humans have been doing this since we wandered off the Savannah. Other animals have been doing this since life developed cell membranes.

Nothing to see, move along.

I really, really wish the various governmental departments involved in this would stop tarting this up as some Godzilla-spawned catastrophe. The hundreds of thousands of ship hulls that have discharged ballast water in foreign ports for the past 5 centuries have done more to speed this sort of thing than one tsunami. Not everything is the end of the world, even if you can get more funding that way.

Re:Attention, "Fittest":

[compro01]

Grab a chunk of natural, untreated wood and leave it in water for a few months.

Like the driftwood that continually washes up on the beach?

Driftwood isn't going to be from the other side of the planet. It will be from much closer and will make landfall before it fully waterlogs.

It's not going to be carrying passengers across an ocean, unlike treated everything-proof wood you'd use on a ship or a dock.

Would those passengers be likely to tolerate the CCA or other treatments over the trans-ocean journey?

If the wood is just being used as a substrate and not as a nutrition source, quite likely.

"break the earth's natural barriers"

[Anonymous Coward]

It seems like Tsunamis have always been around, and have always been a way for such things to happen. How is this new? How is this against nature?

Maybe patent officers think it's new

[russotto]

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 West Coast's marine environments.

Tsunamis have been happening for a few billion years, and moving stuff around for just as long. Scientists realize that.

Re:Maybe patent officers think it's new

[rufty_tufty]

I think the point is that the invasive species are hitchiking a ride on "a floating dock the size of a boxcar". This is new man-made intervention.

Re:Maybe patent officers think it's new

[Jhon]

That was my guy reaction, too.

But, huge GOBS of stuff that can float a REALLY long time *HASN'T* been around that long. MAYBE a tree uprooted might make it across the pacific... or maybe it would be gobbled up or weighted down by stuff in the water before it made it across the ocean.

But a weather treated pier? Boats? Weather treated lumber for homes? Plastics? I'd think those might be more likely to make it across the ocean.

Re:Maybe patent officers think it's new

[pixelpusher220]

The world had a lot more trees before we showed up and cut them down. Said trees don't stand up to a tsunami and in some cases are larger than a box car.

The size of the vehicle is relatively unimportant as long as it floats. A tree might even be better since it could be eaten on the way by many travelers, whereas a human made dock probably has treated would that isn't edible.

Re:Maybe patent officers think it's new

[tlhIngan]

But, huge GOBS of stuff that can float a REALLY long time *HASN'T* been around that long. MAYBE a tree uprooted might make it across the pacific... or maybe it would be gobbled up or weighted down by stuff in the water before it made it across the ocean.

But a weather treated pier? Boats? Weather treated lumber for homes? Plastics? I'd think those might be more likely to make it across the ocean.

Exactly.

Stuff that invasive species would've lived on decomposed or deteriorated before they made it too far from their shores (or sank - waterlogged wood from trees does that). It's only in relatively modern times would something that originated somewhere be cast off and arrive at a whole new continent a year or more later still intact...

Re:Maybe patent officers think it's new

[compro01]

The world had a lot more trees before we showed up and cut them down. Said trees don't stand up to a tsunami and in some cases are larger than a box car.

A tree in an ocean will rapidly absorb water, and then sink like a stone and rot without getting far.

Treated wood won't absorb nearly as much water as quickly, won't rot either, and will float across the ocean with passengers.

There has never been a tsunami before

[vlm]

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

There has never been a tsunami before? WTF?

Right....

[TheCarp]

a "New Way" eh? Newly thought about, newly discovered, but, hardly new. I am pretty sure species have moved via tsunami for a long time now. "Drifting on ocean currents" itself isn't even a "new way" for a species to spread.

This "new way" sounds similar to the way some young people each year get the impression that they just invented spanking their sexual partner? ("OMG she actually likes it, can you believe that?")

Invasive Species are No Problem for Nature

[eldavojohn]

Start surviving....NOW!

Sincerely, Nature.

Hmmm, you know Nature is not afraid of what will happen when these unnaturally treated pieces of wood acts as rafts for any species to traverse an ocean. Perhaps you should share some genuine concern for the effect it will have on humans. Case studies you might care to research: kudzu, zebra mussel, Asian carp and actually a lot of organisms like rats and weeds that currently traverse the Americas were brought over accidentally on ships. The full effect of them is lost to time and the Native American's knowledge of what used to be available.

Docks Are Unnaturally Treated to Resist Water

[eldavojohn]

Tsunamis have been happening for a few billion years, and moving stuff around for just as long. Scientists realize that.

The problem are the man-made materials and treated woods that will survive an ocean voyage where all other natural materials would not.

When a floating dock the size of a boxcar washed up on a sandy beach in Oregon

Docks survive for so long in water because the wood has to be treated or they would blister, bloat and split and become waterlogged. As a result, when one comes loose it can act as a raft indefinitely. Same goes for plastics and foam that might have been used on houses. If you threw an untreated tree or vegetation in the ocean, it would simply never make it.

All of this will become a moot point, however, when the great pacific garbage patch finally reaches both shores and enables all water based organisms to freely traverse from Asia to North America.

Seemingly hopeless cause

[istartedi]

San Francisco Bay is already home to a huge number of non-native species according to a local report. Trade through the port of Oakland is one of many culprits. There has been much talk of requiring different treatment of ship ballast tanks (internal tanks flooded with water to lower and stabilize ships).

A one-time shot of tsunami debris is nothing compared to the steady onslaught of commerce.