An empty Japanese fishing boat off the coast of western Canada could be the first wave of 1.5 million tons of debris heading toward North America after last year's Japanese tsunami.

Canada's transport department spotted the fishing vessel 150 nautical miles south of the Queen Charlotte Islands, near the main coast of British Columbia. It was declared a hazard to shipping. The country will take action if fuel spills from the ship.

The boat is the first piece of evidence confirming that the debris -- including refrigerators, washing machines, televisions, roofs and fishing nets -- is heading east across the Pacific, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The agency originally predicted the debris would hit the northern Hawaiian islands this winter and move slowly toward Alaska, Canada and the U.S. West Coast next year.

Instead, the debris is moving north of Hawaii and hitting the continent ahead of schedule. NOAA is tweaking its forecast to account for new information, such as analysis of recent oil spills and how wind may affect some objects more than others.

"The early indication is that things sitting higher up on the water could potentially move across the Pacific Ocean quicker than we originally thought," said Nancy Wallace, director of NOAA's Marine Debris Program. "Those higher-wind, quicker-moving items may actually be onshore much sooner -- pretty much now."

The extent and composition of the debris are unclear. The Japanese government estimated that the debris from the ravaged areas totaled about 5 million tons. Much of that sank into the ocean, but an estimated 30 percent, or 1.5 billion tons, would have floated. Scientists do not know how much of that will break up and sink in the Pacific Ocean or how much will end up in North America (Bill Rigby, Reuters, March 26). -- JE