Storm Finished Cleanup of Spill, Coast Guard Says : Environment: Oil in Santa Monica Bay was dispersed by waves and wind. Its effect on wildlife, especially grunion, is uncertain.

Oil that spilled into Santa Monica Bay from a ruptured pipeline during the weekend has been dispersed by stormy weather, making further cleanup unnecessary, U.S. Coast Guard officials said Tuesday.

The officials said they did not detect any of the light, diesel-like oil mixture in the water or on beaches during an overflight of Santa Monica Bay on Tuesday morning.

“Basically, the oil is not there anymore,” said Coast Guard Senior Chief Petty Officer Mark Kennedy.

A noxious odor that had permeated the area Sunday and Monday dissipated, and protective booms blocking the entrance to sensitive wetlands at Ballona and Malibu creeks were deemed unnecessary and removed.

“The storm came through and did a lot of the work for us,” said Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Jim Milbury. “It was light oil so it evaporated, and when the storm came, it made the water very choppy and kind of dissolved the oil.”

About 21,000 gallons of the fuel spilled into the bay Saturday evening after the anchor of a mooring vessel ruptured an undersea oil pipeline about a mile offshore of Chevron U.S.A.’s El Segundo refinery. The oil tanker was chartered by Chevron.

Ribbons of light oil washed up onto 3 1/2 miles of Malibu beaches Monday, but it was removed by workers and then the storm, officials said.

Of 23 birds oiled in the slick, 15 died. A cormorant, a loon, four endangered brown pelicans and two Western grebes were found coated by a light sheen but alive.

Curt Taucher, spokesman for the California Department of Fish and Game, said department officials would continue to monitor the spill area for any impact on wildlife.

Of particular concern to wildlife officials will be any impact from the spill on the spawning of grunion, a small silvery fish that had been expected to land on the beaches Monday to lay eggs. The fish did not show up, possibly deterred by the storm and the loud noise and searchlights of the bulldozers and other cleanup machinery on Malibu’s beaches, state wildlife officials said.

John Grant, Fish and Game marine biologist, said early Tuesday that grunion might come ashore late Tuesday night if the weather remained clear. Grunion do not like to spawn when it rains, he said.

The state monitoring effort continued Monday night despite heavy rain and strong winds. Officials in yellow rain slickers and waterproof hip boots trudged back and forth over beaches in an effort to ensure that no oil-tainted water found its way into ecologically sensitive marshlands.

“Things look real good at this point,” Taucher said Tuesday.

Coast Guard officials said it will take at least three months before their investigation of the accident is concluded and the findings sent to Washington for review. The results of urine tests to determine drug use by the vessel’s officers or by a Chevron mooring master would not be available for at least two weeks, officials said, but Breathalyzer tests indicated no alcohol use.