The province has allocated more funds for tsunami debris removal from B.C. shores.
$270,000 was awarded to the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.
The money comes from the $1-million grant that the Japanese government gave to Canada to help with tsunami debris removal.
More than $646,000 of that money has already been spent on other tsunami cleanup initiatives.
The funds will be used to train volunteers about debris identification and disposal, and transport volunteers and collected debris in and out of remote areas.
More than 58,500 Canadians participated in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup last year, helping clean 1,950 sites across the country.
Last week, a group of Japanese students collected seven tonnes of tsunami debris from Vancouver island beaches.
Earlier this month, B.C. government announced the district of Ucluelet is getting more than $80,000 and dozens of volunteers to help clean up an area spanning 100 kilometers of coastline.
It is estimated around 1.5 million tonnes of tsunami debris is floating in the Pacific Ocean, but the impact on B.C. has not been as great as first anticipated.
“It is estimated that the amount of debris that went into the ocean as the result of the tsunami in Japan is one-sixth of what goes into the ocean every year,” says Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup manager Jill Dwyer. “Although it is an important issue and we need to be prepared for the tsunami debris, it is really a drop in the bucket of what has been happening for years now.”
Dwyer says it is difficult to identify whether the debris they come across was created during the tsunami or not.
“But in our opinion, it does not really matter, because debris is debris and it needs to be removed,” she says.
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