“Next, we’re expecting locust,” joked Redondo Mayor Mike Gin Friday afternoon, after surges in King Harbor, generated by the Japanese tsunami, put a stop to clean-up efforts in the harbor.
Since Tuesday, over 80 tons of dead sardines have been scooped up from the harbor, according to Redondo Beach Police Public Information Sgt. Phil Keenan. The fish are being trucked away by Athens Disposal, the city’s trash company, to American Organic in Victorville for composting into fertilizer.
Redondo Public Works employees began the clean-up Tuesday morning. By Wednesday they began getting help from the Community Emergency Response Team, led by Michelle McCullough and the Volunteers in Policing, led by Daryl McClusky, plus an average of almost 200 volunteers a day from throughout the South Bay.
Friday morning nine, five-member crews from the California Conservation Corp, led by Crew Leaders Frances Creighton and Jabari Williams showed up to help, along with over 100 citizen volunteers. But a surge from tsunami generated by Thursday evening’s earthquake in Japan put the clean-up operation on hold. The docks were rising and falling by as much as four feet, making it unsafe for the clean-up crews to work.
Shortly after noon on Friday, according to Sgt. Keenan, just as the cleanup crews were about to be deployed, another strong surge raised the water level in the harbor, then lowered it by several feet.
At that point a decision was made to cancel the day’s clean-up effort.
Volunteers were requested to return Saturday morning at 9 a.m., when the clean-up effort is expected to resume. The volunteer center is located at 655 N. Harbor Drive, near the entrance to the harbor. ER
