Slow boat to America - 30ft Japanese boat arrives Oregon

by Lee Mylchreest on 9 Feb 2013 It started its journey in March 2011, a victim of the great Japanese Tsunami. No-one knows what happened to its fishermen, but the small boat has been, for the last 23 months, making its slow way across the Pacific. Now the forgotten craft has reached America, washing up on an Oregon beach this week, surviving intact all the way across the world's largest ocean.

The fiberglass boat is believed to be debris from the 2011 Japan tsunami. It's 30 feet long and appears to be a 'specialty design for some type of commercial fishing,' state officials said.

It is predominantly white with patches of blue bottom paint, and has a 4 by 12-inch Yamaha sticker on its side.

Biologists said they identified a Japanese acorn barnacle on the hull, as well as a large number of blue mussels.

Oregon State park officials immediately acted to remove the boat. It weighs approximately one ton and was located about 200 yards from a beach access.

The materials on the overturned boat do not pose a risk, authorities said. Biologists Steve Rumrill and Justin Ainsworth with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife have inspected the site, collected samples to identify the species, and given clearance to Oregon Parks and Recreation Department staff to remove the debris.

Biologists Steve Rumrill and Justin Ainsworth, with the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, inspected the boat on Gleneden Beach. They said the hull was covered with barnacles from the open ocean and Japan.

'This vessel does have Japanese acorn barnacles and blue mussels and probably a whole series of other microscopic species and more cryptic species,' Rumrill said. 'It [the boat] had an unusual design, which appeared to be for some type of commercial fishing or aquaculture activity.'