Half the Sardines Removed From Harbor; Crews Vacuuming Sea Floor

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. Wednesday, workers experimented 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.

Authorities estimated that 35 tons of sardines remain beneath the surface on Wednesday afternoon, which means they were about halfway through with the cleanup of the harbor. Work continued to progress this morning at the harbor. 

Keenan said it’s important to clean up most of the millions of fish that died in the harbor Monday night to alleviate the smell of rotting fish and keep the harbor water clean.

“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, authorities believe.

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

“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.

“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 breathe."

Villasenor said the amount of oxygen is usually 8 parts per million in the harbor but was measured at 0.7 parts per million Tuesday.

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

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

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

More than 200 volunteers turned out Wednesday to help scoop the dead fish in nets, and even more volunteered Tuesday, Villansenor said.

“We’re making a huge difference right now,” said Marc Lear of  Redondo Beach, headed 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. It always does,” said Evans, who said he has worked as Santa Claus for the city of Redondo Beach for the last six years.

“Let’s spend that money on feeding the homeless in this country,” Evans said.