By The Associated Press
CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT — A large cylinder that washed ashore on the southern Washington coast near the mouth of the Columbia River may be debris from the 2011 Japan tsunami.
But a spokeswoman for the Washington Marine Debris Task Force, Virginia Painter, says an official determination is unlikely because there are no markings on it.
The cylinder looks like a 19-foot-long pipe, 3 feet in diameter with end caps.
A ranger found it Tuesday on Long Beach at Cape Disappointment State Park. Painter says it will be removed.
The state Fish and Wildlife Department is checking for any invasive species in the seaweed clinging to the cylinder.
A 66-foot dock found Dec. 18 on a remote beach near LaPush was determined to be tsunami debris from Japan. Another dock segment from Japan washed up in Oregon last summer.
