On Friday, December 14, 2012, fisherman reported a floating dock northwest of Grays Harbor, WA. The United States Coast Guard located the dock on December 18th on a beach north of the Hoh River.
Researchers from Oregon State University, Williams College, and the Natural History Museum Los Angeles County travelled to Forks, WA. A team, which was led by Dr. Steven Fradkin of the National Park Service (NPS), reached the dock on December 21. Team included Allen Pleus, the Aquatic Invasive Species Coordinator for the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife as well as OSU scientists and additional NPS and WDFW personnel.
We sampled the biological community present on the dock and have identified 29 species known to occur in Japan and 2 pelagic species. The general composition is extremely similar to the species found on the dock from northern Honshu that arrived on Agate Beach in June 2012. Below is a preliminary species list from the Washington Dock.
Misawa 3.SpeciesList.Version.7.0.Feb.3.2013
