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Debris from Japan tsunami arriving sooner

Crew members assigned to the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Anacapa fire explosive ammunition at the Japanese fishing vessel Ryou-Un Maru April 5, 2012, 180-miles west of the Southeast Alaskan coast. The Coast Guard worked with federal, state and local agencies in Alaska to assess the immediate dangers the vessel presented and determined that sinking it would be the best course of action to minimize any environmental threats. The crewless vessel had drifted toward Alaska after the 2011 tsunami in Japan. UPI/Charly Hengen, U.S. Coast Guard
Crew members assigned to the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Anacapa fire explosive ammunition at the Japanese fishing vessel Ryou-Un Maru April 5, 2012, 180-miles west of the Southeast Alaskan coast. The Coast Guard worked with federal, state and local agencies in Alaska to assess the immediate dangers the vessel presented and determined that sinking it would be the best course of action to minimize any environmental threats. The crewless vessel had drifted toward Alaska after the 2011 tsunami in Japan. UPI/Charly Hengen, U.S. Coast Guard | License Photo

SEATTLE, May 26 (UPI) -- Scientists and lawmakers say debris from the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last year is reaching U.S. shores sooner than expected.

Fishing floats, soccer balls, fuel tanks and fishing vessels let loose by the 9-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami pushed thousands of miles across the Pacific Ocean, carried by currents and winds, already started to arrive on U.S. shores. The U.S. Coast Guard recently blew up a Japanese fishing vessel drifting through the Gulf of Alaska.

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In all, more than 200 bottles, cans, buoys and floats was reported to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which says none of the material is considered radioactive because it was dragged to sea before the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

Tracking the flotsam specifically to Japan is difficult because it generally lacks something identifiable, scientists said.

"Unfortunately 99.999 percent of debris doesn't come with a label," retired Seattle oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer told the Times. "Lawyers want something with a street number or a boat name on it. Flotsam isn't like that, so basically you can't positively track anything back to Japan."

Ebbesmeyer compiles reports from West Coast beachcombers on his blog and has tallied at least 500 foam and plastic floats and fuel cans that have shown up from Japan since October -- about 167 times the normal rate.

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With debris making landfall sooner than predicted, U.S. lawmakers have started to question whether the government is truly prepared.

"Many people said we wouldn't see any of this impact until 2013 or 2014, and now ships and motorcycles and this various debris is showing up and people want answers," U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said.

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