recycling:Dead Fish in Southern California to Be Made Into Fertilizer

Dead Fish in Southern California to Be Made Into Fertilizer

About 1 million dead sardines, found at a Southern California harbor earlier this week, will be composted into organic fertilizer. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Making the best of an unpleasant situation, a Southern California city plans to recycle into fertilizer the 1 million sardines that ended up dead on its shores earlier this week.
Residents of Redondo Beach, 25 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles, woke up Tuesday morning to find their marina clogged with dead fish, preventing boats from traveling in and out of the harbor. Dead sardines stacked up on the marina floor, 12 to 18 inches high, and a layer of floating dead fish covered the water’s surface.
“All indications are it’s a naturally occurring event,” said Andrew Hughan, spokesperson for California Fish and Game.
Officials think the sardines got lost in the marina, perhaps seeking shelter from the high winds of Monday night’s storm. The large group of fish in a small area depleted the water of oxygen, causing the fish to suffocate.
Initial water samples showed no contaminants that could have resulted in the deaths, Hughan said, but he was sending a few fish to a Fish and Game laboratory for further testing. He expects test results to be back early next week.
The city has already started cleaning up the fishy, stinky mess and chose an environmentally responsible destination for the dead fish. The estimated 65 tons of sardines will end up at American Organics’ composting facility in Victorville – 100 miles northeast of Redondo Beach – to be made into organic soil amendment.
“Fish is a good nutrient for our compost,” said Dean Johnson, general manager of the American Organics facility. “Fish adds its moisture, fish oil and nutrients to the compost. We blend in more nitrogen, and we end up with a rich compost.”
The company received 35 tons of the dead sardines just this morning, Johnson said.
American Organics makes a variety of compost products – all of which are organic – including topsoil, planter mix, compost and mulch. Its largest market is agriculture, but it also sells products to golf courses, parks and recreation departments and homeowners. Johnson said he was proud to report that the company diverted 70,000 tons of organic waste from the landfill last year. [Editor's Note: 700,000 tons was corrected to read 70,000 tons on March 10, 2011.]
“Our parent company Athens deserves the most credit for diverting the fish from the landfill,” he said. Athens arranged the transportation of the fish from the Redondo harbor to the composting facility.
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