MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Critically low oxygen blamed for massive death of fish in South California

Millions of dead sardines floating in Redondo beach marina (Reuteur)

Critically low oxygen levels have been measured in a southern Californian harbour after millions of dead fish were washed up in Redondo Beach's marina, close to Los Angeles. A local scientist, Brent Scheiwe, said he took dissolved oxygen level readings in the harbour and found them at almost zero.

''There was pretty much no oxygen in the water,'' he said.

The episode follows unusually heavy rainfall in southern California, which washed lawn fertilizer, dog droppings and similar nutrients into coastal waters.

Marine biologists at the University of Southern California installed oxygen sensors in King Harbour, 11 kilometers south of Los Angeles airport, after an algal bloom caused mass fish deaths in 2005.

They are now probing the harbour for clues about the cause of the latest kill, said a biological sciences professor, David Caron.

Fish kills also struck King Harbour in 2003 and 2005. Both times, algal blooms robbed the harbour waters of oxygen, causing fish to suffocate and die.

Staci Gabrielli, marine coordinator for the King harbour, said the layer of fish is so thick in some places that boats cannot get out of their moorings.

“The issue now is clean-up because we have tons and tons of dead fish rotting and putrefying, which obviously creates hazardous material,” said Redondo Beach police sergeant Phil Keenan.

The authorities are still trying to decide what to do with the dead sardines. One option is to dump them several miles out to sea.

“Probably 5% of the total basin harbour is filled with dead sardines,” said Andrew Hughan, spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Game.