Coastal Nuu-chah-nulth nations are waiting for word on who will take the lead in dealing with the enormous mass of floating debris from the earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeastern Japan on March 11, 2011.
The debris field, which is estimated to cover the surface area of the State of California, contains millions of tonnes of wood, plastics and other materials that were dragged out to sea after the Magnitude 9.0 earthquake levelled whole communities.
Even more ominous, the double-disaster destroyed most of the Fukushima nuclear reactor complex, releasing radioactivity into the ocean.
The first bits of debris may have already arrived on some B.C. beaches, but the main mass is not expected to reach the West Coast for another year or more.
Curtis Dick, deputy chief emergency services coordinator for Ahousaht First Nation, summed up the feeling of many nations.
“Who is going to take charge and who is going to coordinate the effort?” Dick asked.
At EMBC (Emergency Management B.C., formerly the Provincial Emergency Program), spokeswoman Julianne McCaffrey said a stakeholder working group would be named soon, possibly as early as Dec. 6.
By its very nature, the tsunami debris field touches on a huge number of stakeholders, McCaffrey said.
“This is a jurisdictionally complicated issue,” she said.
Floating out on the open ocean, the debris field falls under federal jurisdictions like Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) and the Ministry of the Environment, not to mention Public Safety Canada and Parks Canada, McCaffrey said. When the flotsam and jetsam comes ashore and reaches the high-tide line, it enters another realm of jurisdictions.
“Once it pushes past that, it falls under ‘local authorities,’” she said.
That may be a municipality or a regional district, in which case the jurisdiction is clear-cut – sort of. If the shoreline is on a First Nations reserve, responsibility could remain in federal hands.
“The only time it becomes a provincial matter is if there are hazardous substances or human remains, and we haven’t seen any of those, yet,” McCaffrey said.
That being said, however, EMBC is acting as coordinator provincially to link the various agencies and ministries, including the ministries of Health and Environment.
Dick said the huge number of agencies involved could threaten any effective response.
“You have to wonder, when the time comes, who are we going to be bounced around to?” he said.
Based on Flores and Vargas Islands, Ahousaht First Nation likely faces the biggest threat, Dick said.
“It’s not only our natural resources, but also it affects our transportation,” he said.
“Everything has to come in by water taxi or by barge. If [the debris field] comes in, our boats will not be able to move. Even our float planes won’t be able to operate. That raises a whole range of emergency issues.”
Dick said his community faces being cut off for weeks or months, with only helicopters able to transport food, medicine or people. And no one can anticipate the health effects the debris may have on people, especially those with compromised health, he added.
Most nations said they hadn’t been advised of any strategy so far.
“Nobody has gotten back to me yet. I haven’t had any word from either the federal or provincial government to start planning for whatever is going to happen,” Mowachaht/Muchalaht fisheries manager Jamie James said. “That is surprising, because I also serve as deputy emergency coordinator for the Village of Gold River.”
Toquaht First Nation fisheries manager David Johnson said the jurisdictional picture will have to be straightened out soon. With traditional territory extending from Toquart Bay into Barkley Sound, Toquaht has extensive shellfish rights, for both wild and cultured clams and oysters, all of which could be devastated should the debris field push into Barkley Sound.
“It’s very complicated for Maa-nulth nations,” Johnson said. “We own some of the foreshore, while others parts are in the regional district.”
As of Thursday, Johnson said he had not received any communication from senior government, although it has been a matter of frequent discussion among Nuu-chah-nulth officials.
“We [Maa-nulth nations] have a meeting with DFO next week. Hopefully, they will be able to clarify the picture,” he said.
Tseshaht chief councillor Les Sam said his nation has received “zero” information.
“We have had nobody come to us to ask us how to prepare for this,” Sam said.
Tseshaht traditional territory includes the Broken Island Group, which is the crown jewel of Pacific Rim National Park. Sam believes Ottawa has a vested interest in protecting one of its high-visibility tourist destinations and ecological preserves.
“We are working with Parks Canada on a co-operative management strategy in Pacific Rim National Park,” Sam said. “That would include, I would think, the cleanup.”
As for the future cleanup effort itself, Sam believes Tseshaht should take the lead role in its own territory.
“I can’t see anybody but us cleaning up our beaches. We know the beaches and what they would require,” he said. “We do have a beach keepers program with Parks Canada, and they are already monitoring the materials that are coming in.”
The bigger question, Sam said, is who is going to pay for the effort, which will be massive – well beyond the current capacity and budget of any First Nation.
Hesquiaht band administrator Cecil Sabbas said his nation could take a major hit from the incoming mass. The territory extends from the west end of Flores Island on the southern side to Escalante on the north.
“We’re fully exposed, right on the open ocean,” Sabbas said. “For that reason, we don’t have any fish farms or any aquaculture. We don’t have any safe havens.”
Sabbas said for as long as he can remember, Hesquiaht members have picked up items from Japan on their beaches, which, up until now have provided some pleasant memories, especially the glass fishing floats.
“I have quite a collection of them, in a whole range of sizes,” he said. “I had thought the fishermen weren’t using them any more, but in one of the recent news reports they said the glass floats were still being used.”
In discussions that he has had recently, one of the major concerns has been that some of the debris might be contaminated with radioactive materials from the Fukushima reactors. It’s a topic he treats with black humour.
“I guess I should start wearing gloves when I pick stuff up,” he quipped. “But if I see a glass ball that’s glowing in the dark, I’m not going to touch it.”
Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District chief administrative officer Russell Dyson said he has little more information than coastal First Nations.
“I do know the province is taking the leading role, and I understand they are setting up a working group,” Dyson said. “We will be in contact with them to find out how we will be involved.”
From an operational standpoint, Dyson said it is possible the province could ask ACRD to landfill debris when it arrives. That, he said flatly, is not possible. ACRD operates the West Coast Landfill. The sheer volume—millions of tonnes of wood and plastic from demolished buildings, boats, etc.–would simply overwhelm the existing infrastructure.
“We don’t have the capacity to do that. It was only designed for domestic use,” Dyson said.
Under the regional Solid Waste Management Plan, ACRD is already considering converting the facility to a transfer point rather than a landfill.
“We own the land, but the issue is that it is in the middle of [Pacific Rim] national park and in the middle of a wetland,” Dyson said, adding that it is far too early to predict whether the province might ask ACRD to set up the West Coast Landfill as a transfer point with the necessary capacity to handle the tsunami debris.
In the meantime, Dyson said ACRD would make preparations as the overall picture becomes clearer.
At First Nations Emergency Services, based in North Vancouver, emergency preparedness and response coordinator Mark D’Aquino said it was unlikely his agency would become involved, because it is only funded to provide very specific programs, with a limited number of resources.
FNESS evolved from the Society of Indian Fire Fighters of B.C., founded in 1986. The agency has grown beyond its original mandate to improve fire safety on First Nations reserves to include a wide range of emergency and public safety services.
But cleaning up a mountain of tsunami debris is well beyond the FNESS mandate, D’Aquino said.
“I have to fight every year for funding. Right now I’m trying to get more funding for a tsunami [preparedness] program.”
