Whilst the phrase “alien sea life” may be a little science-fictiony and overdramatic, there is a certain accuracy in the description of how the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami swept an estimated 100 tons of sea life eastward (as well as what sounds like the contents of a small flea market), where it washed up in Oregon last week:

Oregon State University (OSU) scientists said Thursday that there are about 13 pounds of organisms per square foot on the 66-foot-long dock, which has been traced to the Northeast coast of Japan. Tests show that the dock is not contaminated with radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown after the tsunami, but it did bring with it the danger of invasive species.

Well, at least it’s not radioactive, so thank goodness for small favors.

Many of the species are not native to Oregon's shores, and could damage the state's ecosystem if they become established there.

Invasive species are nothing new, or even unique to events like the tsunami. And while humans were not responsible for the tsunami nor the Ark-like conveyance of new species across the Pacific to North America, we should take heed, as some species could gain a toehold here and cause very real environmental problems. Most species in a given ecosystem are kept in check by the presence of some kind of natural predator, but when new species arrive, there is often no natural predator to keep them from proliferating and decimating native species of flora or fauna, or both. (Case in point, the emerald ash borer which has been munching its way up the Eastern seaboard; I recently spotted a borer trap in Saratoga.) In many cases, these invasive species are not just a environmental problem, but a potential economic problem, if they manage to destroy important crops—like, say, all those trees that everyone says they care about so much. While in the case of the alien species arriving from Japan, human activities were not involved, many cases of invasive species running amok are human-initiated. In most of these cases, a non-native species is introduced in order to rid a specific geography of some kind of pest, like rats. Such as in the case of Hawaii, where mongooses were introduced more than a century ago to help derat the islands. However, one slight problem involved poor scheduling: the rats were nocturnal, the mongooses diurnal. Doh! As a result, the mongooses began feasting on the local bird populations, and now more than 100 years later, remain a substantial problem—and are spreading to other islands of their own accord. Anyway, back to the stuff coming across the Pacific. A bit further north—to Alaska:

An estimated five million tons of debris was washed into the sea - including boats, cars, houses and buoys. In 14 months, some of it has drifted 4,000 miles across the Pacific, and is beginning to wash up in Alaska, with much more to follow.

Here’s a disturbing video chart tracking the debris. (h/t Charles Pierce)