Tag: Japan

Ship went missing in a storm on Tuesday Japan's coastguard has rescued 11 of 17 crew members from a Hong Kong-registered cargo ship that went missing in a storm on Tuesday.The 4,143-tonne ship, called New Lucky VII, went missing about 100km (60 miles) west of the southern Japanese island of Amami Oshima on Tuesday.One Taiwanese, two Chinese and 14 Indonesian sailors were on board, said Japanese media reports.The search for the remaining six crew members is continuing.The vessel, which was carrying timber from Papua New Guinea to China, lost contact with its owners during the storm.'Severe storm'The Japanese coastguard launched a search operation on Thursday, following a request from the Hong Kong authorities.Patrol vessels reported large amounts of oil afloat in the sea where the ship had lost contact with its owner, raising fears it had sunk.The coastguard found nine crew members on a life raft drifting about 60km from the ship's last known position.Another two sailors were found on a life raft nearby.An official said that the rescued crew members - eight Indonesian, two Chinese, and one Taiwanese - appeared unhurt."But we have not had further details including their identification, the fate of the remaining six crew as well ...

It will take at least a year or two for the radioactive material to get across the ocean Radioactive material from the Fukushima nuclear disaster has been found in tiny sea creatures and ocean water some 186 miles (300 kilometers) off the coast of Japan, revealing the extent of the release and the direction pollutants might take in a future environmental disaster.In some places, the researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) discovered cesium radiation hundreds to thousands of times higher than would be expected naturally, with ocean eddies and larger currents both guiding the "radioactive debris" and concentrating it.With these results, detailed on April 2 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team estimates it will take at least a year or two for the radioactive material released at Fukushima to get across the Pacific Ocean. And that information is useful when looking at all the other pollutants and debris released as a result of the tsunami that destroyed towns up and down the eastern coast of Japan."We saw a telephone pole," study leader Ken Buesseler, a marine chemist and oceanographer at WHOI, told LiveScience. "There were lots of chemical plants. A lot of stuff ...

Japanese transport ministry plans to draw up safety standards by March 2013 In an effort to put liquefied natural gas-fueled ships into practical use, the Japanese transport ministry plans to draw up safety standards by March 2013, officials said Tuesday.Potential demand for environmentally-friendly LNG-fueled ships is high, as environmental regulations for marine shipping are to be gradually tightened after a revised international treaty on the prevention of ocean pollution takes effect in January 2013.Carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions from LNG vessels are, respectively, 25 pct and 40 pct less than those from petroleum-fueled ships, while LNG vessels emit no sulfur oxides.LNG ships also look more appealing as the price of LNG falls, thanks to improved mining technologies. "This will be the biggest shift in marine fuel since the shift from coal to oil," a transport ministry official said.The ministry intends to promote Japanese LNG vessel standards through the International Maritime Organization.Source: Jiji Press

Japanese fishing vessel spotted adrift off the west coast of Canada A Japanese fishing vessel swept away by the March 2011 tsunami has been spotted adrift off the west coast of Canada.An aircraft patrolling the seas off British Columbia saw the 15m (50ft) vessel floating 275km (170 miles) from the Haida Gwaii islands on Friday.It is believed to be the first large item from the millions of tonnes of tsunami debris to cross the Pacific.No-one is believed to be on board the ship, registered in Hokkaido, Japan.

Study of the amount, spread, and impacts of radiation released into the ocean An international research team is reporting the results of a research cruise they organized to study the amount, spread, and impacts of radiation released into the ocean from the tsunami-crippled reactors in Fukushima, Japan. The group of 17 researchers and technicians from eight institutions spent 15 days at sea in June 2011 studying ocean currents, and sampling water and marine organisms up to the edge of the exclusion zone around the reactors.This map shows the sampling stations and cruise track near the Kuroshio Current (shown in yellow and red). Sampling began 400 miles offshore and passed within 20 miles of the nuclear complex. (Credit: Steven Jayne, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)Led by Ken Buesseler, a senior scientist and marine chemist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the team found that the concentration of several key radioactive substances, or radionuclides, were elevated but varied widely across the study area, reflecting the complex nature of the marine environment. In addition, although levels of radioactivity in marine life sampled during the cruise were well below levels of concern for humans and the organisms themselves, the researchers leave open the question ...

Joint marine environmental protection projects with Japan China has proposed joint marine environmental protection projects with Japan in the East China Sea as part of efforts to ease tensions over the disputed Senkaku Islands, sources said Monday.Foreign ministers of the two countries are expected to discuss the issue when they meet on the sidelines of a trilateral foreign ministerial meeting with South Korea in Ningbo, China, this weekend, the sources said.The Chinese government made the proposal earlier this year following an agreement between Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in late December that the two countries would create a new bilateral mechanism to discuss maritime security, including crisis management involving incidents in the East China Sea.The two countries have begun studies on joint projects. In Japan, government agencies such as the Environment Ministry are studying scientific research in areas such as marine ecology as one of the envisaged joint projects, the sources said.By promoting joint projects, Japan hopes to create an environment in which the two countries can resume negotiations toward concluding a treaty on joint gas development in the East China Sea, the sources said. China may seek to conduct a joint survey on marine resources ...

Wave of 1.5 million tons of debris heading toward North America An empty Japanese fishing boat drifting off the coast of western Canada could be the first wave of 1.5 million tons of debris heading toward North America from Japan's tsunami last March.The wreckage from flattened Japanese coastal towns - including refrigerators, washing machines, televisions, roofs and fishing nets - is heading inexorably east across the Pacific and could arrive sooner than expected, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration."The early indication is that things sitting higher up on the water could potentially move across the Pacific Ocean quicker than we had originally thought," said Nancy Wallace, director of NOAA's Marine Debris Program, which had forecast the appearance of tsunami debris on North American shores only in 2013."Those higher-wind, quicker moving items may actually be onshore much sooner - pretty much now."On March 20, Canada's transport department spotted what it said was an empty Japanese fishing vessel 150 nautical miles south of the Queen Charlotte Islands, adjacent to the main coast of British Columbia.The ship has been declared a hazard to shipping, but Canada has not said what - if anything - it will do with it. The ...

Better coordination among their naval ships India, China and Japan recently agreed for better coordination among their naval ships deployed for escort of merchant vessels in the piracy-infested Gulf of Aden, the Lok Sabha was informed on Monday.In a written reply to a question in the Lower House, Defence Minister A K Antony said, "India, China and Japan have recently agreed for better coordination among their naval ships deployed for escort of merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aden."Denying that the government has plans to sign pacts with neighbouring countries to counter militant activities and check piracy, Antony said, "Nevertheless, the security and surveillance apparatus for coastal defence has been enhanced over the years."Strengthening of coastal security apparatus is an ongoing process considering the needs and changing security scenario as well as the threat perception, he added.In reply to a question on acquisition of fleet tankers, Antony informed the House that Indian Navy has awarded a contract for acquisition of such a ship to a foreign shipyard."Steel offered by the Shipyard Fincanteri, in response to the Request for Proposal (RFP) for construction of fleet tanker, was technically evaluated by a Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC)," he said.Based on technical clarifications offered ...

Japan Tsunami Debris Are Degrading Into Tiny Bits Of Plastic One year after a massive tsunami ravaged the east coast of Japan, much attention is focused on the bottles, refrigerators and other debris washed out to sea and its pending arrival on the U.S. West Coast -- endangering ships, seabirds and other wildlife along the way.Some experts, however, are more concerned about the debris we may never see but that might still pose a threat to human health."Over long periods of time, big plastics degrade into smaller and smaller particles, and these may create an additional route of exposure to certain chemical contaminants," said Courtney Arthur, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Debris Program.As sunlight and waves break down plastic materials into pieces the size of fish food, new research suggests that fish may mistakenly eat the so-called microplastics and subsequently absorb chemicals into their bodies. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins, among other toxins, could then travel up the food chain and onto our dinner plates.These pollutants have been linked to everything from hormone problems to neurological disorders to cancer in humans.So far, microplastic debris -- generally defined as particles less than one millimeter wide, or ...

3 million to 4 million tons of debris into the ocean Tsunamis generated by the magnitude-9 earthquake in Japan last March dragged 3 million to 4 million tons of debris into the ocean after tearing up Japanese harbors and homes.Scientists believe ocean currents are carrying some of the lumber, refrigerators, fishing boats and other objects across the Pacific toward the United States.One to 5 percent of the 1 million to 2 million tons of debris still in the ocean may reach Hawaii, Alaska, Oregon and Washington and British Columbia, said University of Hawaii senior researcher and ocean current expert Nikolai Maximenko.That's only a portion of the 20 million to 25 million tons of debris the tsunamis generated altogether, including what was left on land.Maximenko plans to discuss Tuesday at a news conference his latest estimates for where the debris is and when it may wash ashore. Last year, his team estimated debris could arrive in Hawaii in early 2013.Some debris appears to have already arrived in the U.S., like a half-dozen large buoys suspected to be from Japanese oyster farms found in Alaska late last year.Nicholas Mallos, conservation biologist and marine debris specialist for the Ocean Conservancy, said many of ...