Fishing boat set adrift by 2011 Japan tsunami going home

The Daini Katsu Maru is expected to arrive in Japan on March 11, the fifth anniversary of the tsunami that first set the boat adrift. It's final resting place will be part of a commemorative display. Image courtesy of the Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources.

A Japanese fishing boat that was washed out to see during the 2011 Japan tsunami and made its way to O‘ahu’s Alan Davis Beach in April 2015 is finally making the journey home. Experts say the Daini Katsu Maru drifted 5,000 miles following Japan’s devastating earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, which killed more than 15,000 people and destroyed entire villages. On Saturday, efforts to return the 20-foot long boat got underway at Honolulu Harbor.

DLNR has been working with the Japanese government in coordinating the boats return. Researchers at the University of Hawai‘i believe the boat drifted eastward for two years before getting caught up in the so-called North Pacific Garbage Patch. “Later, when right conditions came, wind and current conditions, it was washed on O‘ahu,” said Nikolai Maximenko, senior researcher at International Pacific Research Center (IPRC).

Read more about it and watch the video report at Hawaii News Now.