Ocean Voyages Institute: Debris Field

Mary Crowley Dept: RICHMOND, B.C. - A U.S.-based environmental group is using the ongoing focus about what to do with the floating wreckage from last year's Japanese tsunami to highlight the much larger issue of debris in the world's oceans, according to Winnipeg Free Press. The group's ship, a 46-metre, twin-masted sailing vessel named the Kaisei, encountered debris from the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami roughly 500 kilometres off the coast of Oregon and Washington state, said Mary Crowley, who founded the Ocean Voyages Institute and debris found on the Pacific Ocean off the North American coast is displayed during a Ocean Voyages Institute news conference in Richmond, B.C., on Wednesday August 8, 2012. Mary Crowley, the group's executive director says their ship found debris including a piece of a floating dock almost 500 kilometres off the coast of Oregon and Washington states during a recent trip off the North American coast. She believes the massive debris field from the Japanese tsunami, some of which is making its way to the North American West Coast, could prompt a larger discussion about ocean debris. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck The Ocean Voyages Institute recently completed a trip off the North American coast as it sailed from San Francisco to British Columbia, where it is scheduled to attend a maritime festival in Richmond, south of Vancouver, this weekend. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.