PORT ANGELES, Wash. (AP) — Japan has confirmed that a black float about the size of a barrel found on the Washington coast at Neah Bay in December is Japanese, possibly set adrift by the tsunami last March.
The Peninsula Daily News reports (http://is.gd/NtiA4r ) it was examined in January by members of the Japanese consulate in Seattle who sent photos and measurements to Tokyo.
Consul Tetsuo Kobayashi says the float is the type manufactured by a Japanese company and used at oyster farms in Japan. It can’t be confirmed whether it was ripped loose by the tsunami or broke away earlier. Other black floats have been found recently on Pacific beaches on the Olympic Peninsula and Vancouver Island.
Ocean-current experts say more debris from the tsunami is expected to reach the West Coast next year.
