Page 28 - aruba-today-20170930

A28 SCIENCE
Saturday 30 September 2017

Sea critters hitchhiked across the Pacific on tsunami debris

By SETH BORENSTEIN and analyzed the debris West Coast.
AP Science Writer that reached the West The researchers note an-
WASHINGTON (AP) — Near- Coast and Hawaii over the other huge factor in this flo-
ly 300 species of fish, mus- last five years, with new tilla: plastics.
sels and other sea critters pieces arriving Wednesday Decades ago, most of the
hitchhiked across the Pa- in Washington. The debris debris would have been
cific Ocean on debris from flowed across the North Pa- wood and that would have
the 2011 Japanese tsuna- cific current, as other ob- degraded over the long
mi, washing ashore alive in jects do from time to time, ocean trip, but now most of
the United States, research- before it moved north with the debris — buoys, boats,
ers reported Thursday. the Alaska current or south crates and pallets — are
It is the largest and lon- with the California current. made of plastic and that
gest marine migration ever Most hit Oregon and Wash- survives, Carlton said. And
documented, outside ex- ington. Last year, a small so the hitchhikers survive,
perts and the research- boat from Japan reached too.
ers said. The scientists and Oregon with 20 good-sized “It was the plastic debris
colleagues combed the fish inside, a kind of yellow- that allowed new spe-
beaches of Washington, tail jack native to the west- cies to survive far longer
Oregon, California, Brit- ern Pacific, Carlton said. than we ever thought they
ish Columbia, Alaska and Some of the fish are still would,” Carlton said.
Hawaii and tracked the alive in an Oregon aquari- James Byers, a marine
species to their Japanese This February 2017 photo provided by Nancy Treneman shows um. Earlier, an entire fishing ecologist at the University
origins. Their arrival could Japanese mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis), barnacles ship — the Sai sho-Maru — of Georgia in Athens, who
be a problem if the critters (Megabalanus rosa), and sea anemones on a tsunami buoy arrived intact with five of wasn’t part of the study,
take root, pushing out na- which washed ashore on Long Beach, Wash. the same 6-inch fish swim- praised the authors for their
tive species, the study au- Associated Press ming around inside. detective work. He said in
thors said in Thursday’s jour- plants and animals thriv- gave birth to new genera- Co-author Gregory Ruiz, a an email that the migration
nal Science. ing in areas where they tions while at sea. Smithsonian marine ecolo- was an odd mix of a natural
“It’s a bit of what we call don’t naturally live. Marine “The diversity was some- gist, is especially interested trigger and human aspects
ecological roulette,” said invasions in the past have what jaw-dropping,” Carl- in a Japanese parasite in because of the plastics.
lead author James Carlton, hurt native farmed shell- ton said. “Mollusks, sea the gills of mussels. Else- “The fact that communi-
a marine sciences profes- fish, eroded the local eco- anemones, corals, crabs, where in the world, these ties of organisms survived
sor at Williams College, in system, caused economic just a wide variety of spe- parasites have taken root out in the open ocean for
Williamstown, Massachu- losses and spread disease- cies, really a cross-section and hurt oyster and mussel long time periods (years in
setts. carrying species, said Bella of Japanese fauna.” harvests and they hadn’t some cases) is amazing,”
It will be years before scien- Galil, a marine biologist The researchers collected been seen before on the he wrote.q
tists know if the 289 Japa- with the Steinhardt Mu-
nese species thrive in their seum of Natural History in Australia to create its own space
new home and crowd out Tel Aviv, Israel, who wasn’t
roughly estimated that a A magnitude 9 earthquake agency for economic boost
natives. The researchers part of the study.

million creatures traveled off the coast of Japan trig-
4,800 miles (7,725 kilome- gered a tsunami on March CANBERRA, Australia (AP) Acting Minister for Industry,
ters) across the Pacific 11, 2011, that swept boats, — Australia announced Innovation and Science
Ocean to reach the West docks, buoys and other on Monday it will create its Michaelia Cash said the
Coast, including hundreds man-made materials into own space agency to in- agency’s charter would be
of thousands of mussels. the Pacific. The debris drift- crease its share of the $330 developed by the end of
Invasive species is a major ed east with an armada of billion space economy. March.
problem worldwide with living creatures, some that Prime Minister Malcolm “A national space agency
Turnbull said the agency will ensure we have a stra-
would be part of Australia’s tegic long-term plan that
development of an innova- supports the development
tion and science economy. and application of space
But the government has technologies and grows Australian Prime Minister
provided few specifics. “It’s our domestic space indus- Malcolm Turnbull speaks
during a press conference in
a small agency to coordi- try,” she added. Sydney, Monday, Sept. 25,
nate and lead,” Turnbull The opposition Labor Party 2017.
told reporters. said such an agency was Associated Press
“The space sector, of needed to increase Aus- than 1 percent of what
course, is one of enormous tralia’s share of a global the government estimates
potential.” space economy from less is worth $330 billion.q