Redondo's Harbor Cleanup: 1 Day to Go?

Harbor Drive in Redondo Beach began to reek of dead sardines as crews in King Harbor Marina continued to work Thursday to remove the mass of decaying fish.

Millions of fish Monday night. The cleanup could be completed by the end of Saturday, said police Sgt. Phil Keenan.

Workers and  cleared the water of dead fish Wednesday, but when they arrived Thursday morning they found thousands of sardine carcasses floating on the surface.

“There was a carpet of fish,” Keenan said.

Several tons of fish were pulled from the water Thursday, he said. What was a two-foot-deep layer of fish on the ocean floor Tuesday has been reduced to three inches.

“It’s much easier to get them off the surface than to go underneath to get them,” Keenan said. “However, we do have people from private contractors that are now on scene and setting up to vacuum the fish off the floor.”

The sardines are believed to have entered the harbor to get away from the strong winds, but suffocated when they piled up on one another and depleted the oxygen in the water.

Bill Adkins, who once lived on a boat in the marina, described the dead sardines as “nature at its best.”

“Marine [life] has been running aground throughout history. They end up on the beaches, on the shore. Something like this just happens. It's nature,” Adkins said. “But I’ve never seen anything like this.”