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Community Corner

Half of Dead Sardines Removed from Redondo's King Harbor

Crews are now vacuuming the sea floor. The giant school of sardines was seeking refuge from wind-whipped waters and ended up in the harbor, according to officials.

The surface of the water in King Harbor Marina is nearly clear of dead fish, with about 35 tons of the sardines removed since Tuesday morning, authorities said.

Workers experimented Wednesday with various methods to remove the dead fish from the sea floor, and have settled on a plan that involves vacuuming them up in two steps.

Workers are using Vector Vacuums, large industrial vacuums, to stir the dead fish off underwater rocks before using a different type of vacuum that doesn't disrupt the ocean floor, said Redondo Beach police Sgt. Phil Keenan.

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Authorities estimate that 35 tons of sardines remain beneath the surface, which means that teams are about halfway through with the cleanup of the harbor.

It’s important to clean up most of the millions of fish to alleviate the smell of rotting fish and keep the harbor water clean, Keenan said.

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Between the boats and harbor break wall, sea lions and sea gulls continued to feed on the sardines during cleanup efforts. 

“When the sardines do start to decay in such mass quantities, there's a bacteria [that grows] and consumes oxygen, which makes for a longer recovery for oxygen levels in the harbor,” Keenan said.

The enormous school of sardines died in the harbor from lack of oxygen, according to authorities.

The sardines were desperately looking for refuge from the strong winds Monday night, said Redondo firefighter Pete Villasenor, who is helping organize volunteers for the cleanup effort.

“Here’s what we know for sure. There was serious storm and wind activity for about a day and a half, gale force winds over 40 mph,” Villasenor said.

“So what happened was during those winds, a big ball of the sardines ended up looking for refuge. They got pushed between the Palos Verdes Peninsula and King Harbor, and they got shoved in toward shore fighting the currents," he added.

“They started making their way along and they found safe refuge in the harbor," Villasenor said. "Once that happened, they thought they had it made. They’re pretty tired. ... At that point they’re trapped. They don’t know how to get out. They suffocate. It’s like having a bunch of people falling into a cave and they can’t breath."

The amount of oxygen is usually eight parts per million in the harbor but was measured at 0.7 parts per million Tuesday, Villasenor said.

There has been a lot of "bait" fish nearby in the Santa Monica Bay for the last couple of years, with whales and dolphins feeding on them, Villasenor said. 

He and members of the Community Emergency Response Teams organized volunteers outside the site of the former Red Onion at 655 N. Harbor Dr. in Redondo Beach.

More than 200 volunteers signed up Wednesday to help scoop the dead fish in nets, and even more volunteered Tuesday, Villasenor said.

“We’re making a huge difference right now,” said Redondo Beach resident Marc Lear while he was heading toward the docks to net sardines. “We’ve skimmed basically everything that has floated to the top.”

“I feel really good to be out here,” said Kim Lanie, a member of the Lanakila Outrigger Canoe Club that is based in the Marina. “It’s part of my community so I try to help as much as I can."

For Phil Evans, the cleanup effort is commendable but perhaps over-the-top at this point.

“This is too much,” said Evans, watching the volunteers net dead fish.

Evans has a boat docked in the harbor and said the crabs and birds can finish off what’s left of the dead sardines.

“I certainly appreciate all the good will and everybody getting involved. It’s wonderful to see the spirit of the community, but nature will take care of it," he said. "It always does."

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