Enough anchovies to top much of the world’s pizza and Caesar salads have floated lifelessly to the surface in Redondo Beach, California's King Harbor, according to a local newspaper.
Officials say millions of the pungent, oily fish are covering the sea bottom in the harbor. They began rising to the surface Tuesday morning, the Daily Breeze in Torrance, outside Los Angeles, reported.
“We need to get rid of them,” Sgt. Phil Keenan of the Redondo Beach Police Department told the paper. “This is going to create a terrible pollution and public health issue if we don't.”
Fire, police and public works officials have yet to cite a definite cause, but Keenan said the fish appear to have died from lack of oxygen.
There were no red tides (oxygen-depleting algae blooms) or other obvious phenomena that could have caused the mass deaths, the paper reported.
“Yesterday, everything looked absolutely normal,” Walter Waite, who lives at the harbor, told the newspaper. “This morning when I got up, there were millions and millions of them floating everywhere.”
The temperature in Southern California is expected to climb into the 70s Tuesday, exacerbating the urgency of removing the scads of 6-inch fish scattered throughout the harbor.
Read CNN's full coverage of the dead anchovies in a California harbor
This is a dire warning. Those anchovies deprive tuna and Harbor seals of their principle diet. Like a chain reaction, thousands of fish and seals will starve and die. Personally, I would like to see the Navy seals suddenly die off because they have been eating into the budget for far too long.
Captain Richard Phillips would likely disagree with you. Yeah, the 1/10th of 1% of the defense budget that SEAL teams are given is a terrible drain. Much like reading your moronic post.
sarah palin swam in the bay...
Something's really fishy in King Harbor.
Its the end of the world as we know it
and I feel fine.
I keep forgetting, but is this the 3rd or 4th sign of the apocalypse?
I think it's the 9,654th, but who keeps track?
I was thinking the same thing! First birds falling from the sky and now fish turning belly up dead!
I say we make the Mother of all Caesar salads. That or make the Mother of all donations to Domino's pizza. What? Hold the anchovies? But it's free toppings night. Happy Mardi Gras pizza lovers.
Okay, when you get this many fish coming into shallow water, they suck up the oxygen incredibly fast and suffocate themselves. I did see a dolphin or something splashing around, but from what the article says, they died a day or two ago. The oxygen level would have time to renew since then, but if tests are taken of the O2 content in the water, I can about guarantee you the levels are still lower than normal.
The article states they died of oxygen deprivation, and this wouldn't be the first time a large fish kill was attributed to too many organisms in a smaller than normal space. But, if the local experts say they don't know yet, I would wait for their results over mine.
That is the predominant reason for so many fish kills here lately, but the big question is why are so many large schools of fish trying to get to shallow water? Is there something out there scaring them? Or are we doing something that is attracting them to shallow water?
They heard that Charlie Sheen is having a Roast for Charlie Tuna...it's a fish fry!
I say there are evil schemes afoot. Call in Dirk Pitt and the NUMA crew!
Has anone noticed if the koch brothers are docked in the harbor ?
koch...harbor...sounds like a fishy post to me.
I think the Kochs only care about "safe harbors." 🙂
quoting "shamwow" " ... That's going to smell.."
People have been claiming the end of time for thousands of years. Scientists say that in 13 billion years, our sun will explode. So if I can live to 11 billion years, I'll be happy.
"Every year approximately 14 billion pounds of tires, cardboard boxes, plastic cups, bottles, cans, and other trash are dumped into the ocean. Some of this trash sinks, and some of it is eatenby ocean creatures. Most of this trash, especially plastic, floats and eventually this floating refuse, carried by ocean currents and waves washes up on beaches. Even in remote areas like Antarctica, researchers have found plastic bottles, bags, and sheeting washed ashore . Almost all of this trash can create problems for wildlife and people. The plastics, which can persist indefinitely, can be especially harmful." -wiki.answers.com-
BOOM there is the problem................the human race is beginning to disgust me
DON'T EVEN WANT TO THINK ABOUT THE SMELL! SO GLAD I DON'T LIVE NEAR THERE.
yea you will want to have everyone believe that theses fish are just dying all over the world but we believe that this is a sign leading to May 21, 2011 judgement day whether you agree or not. we all hard about the science religion to what is going on but we don't buy it because we know more from God's bible.
Is this a joke?
Reminds me of that Joke. "A blind man walks past a fish market and says "Good morning Ladies".
If it smells like fish, DON"T eat it.
No it should not. Do you mean cash aavcnde from your credit card? As long as you pay your credit card before or by the due date you should be fine. Why do you need to pay the car off so fast? you can always make your minimum payment on the car loan till your money hits the bank.
the industrial revolution drove this world into the dirt. we spent one hundred years acting like it was making everything bigger & better. rather than daydream of a future family & career, i'm enjoying life as i know it (while i still can.) we wont last another decade with all of the political (which led to mother nature turning against us) TURMOIL that continues to pile.
Get rid of the "TURM" in your post and we have the root of all today's problems.
I just took a closer look at that photo. You would expect every available surface on those boats to be covered with seagulls and other fish eating birds like Pelicans and also seals – where are they? The fact that they don't seem to be going for this free feast is really scary!