Peter Mark holds the volleyball he found on a Haida Gwaii beach in February. (CBC)

A volleyball swept away from an area hit by last year's tsunami in Japan and found on a a B.C. beach has been identified as a commemorative ball for a tournament.

Haida Gwaii resident Peter Mark, who also found a Harley-Davidson motorcycle from Japan on the same beach, has been keeping the ball at home after he picked it up during a walk in February.

The ball was made for an elementary school volleyball tournament marking the seventh anniversary of the Rifu Juniors volleyball team in Rifu Town, one of the coaches told Japanese news media.

The community is located in Miyagi Prefecture, one of the areas devastated by the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011.

The ball was given to the teams participating in the tournament in 2006 as a souvenir of the occasion. About 40 teams from three local prefectures took part, the coach said.

Mark said he wants to send the ball back to its owners.

Haida Gwaii, formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands, lies off the coast of Northern B.C., about 750 kilometres northwest of Vancouver.