Hooked on Swordfish : Fishermen Are Protecting a Rare Visitor to Their Harbor

Heard the fish tale about the one that got away? Here’s one about a fish that won’t go away.

A deep-water swordfish has taken up residency in busy King Harbor in Redondo Beach, where it is sharing space with 1,500 pleasure boats and a sportfishing fleet.

Hard-boiled fishermen who normally would be chasing such a fish halfway across the Pacific with their harpoons at the ready were working Tuesday to keep it safe from propellers and dockside anglers.

This is one fish that has hooked the fishermen.

“This is an awesome sight, seeing one of these in a harbor,” said commercial fisherman Don Anderson of Hermosa Beach as he watched the purple-and-silver fish glide swiftly beneath docks and boats in the southeast corner of the harbor.

“I have a 36-foot swordfish boat. And I do swordfish spotting from an airplane for sportfishermen. But being able to stand and observe, just watch it, is a first.”

Said Rocky Post, owner of a boat fueling station at the harbor: “Swordfish feed between 700 feet and 1,000 feet deep. It’s a blue-water fish. This probably is a first for any harbor along this coast.”

The swordfish, about four feet long, was first noticed swimming in the 12-foot-deep corner of the harbor on Sunday by several curious tourists, Post said. They asked marina dock master Dennis Kocontes what kind of fish had a long, pointed nose.

“He said swordfish look that way and they said, ‘Well, is that what a swordfish looks like?’ and pointed over by the dock. No one could believe it,” said Post.

The fish was attracting quite a crowd on Tuesday. “At last I can say I’ve seen one of these,” joked fishing tackle shop owner Pete Wilkowski of Hermosa Beach.

Saying you’ve seen one in a busy harbor is something else again, said commercial fisherman Dave Lawrence of Carson. “You’d win the million-dollar lotto a hundred times before you’d see what you’re seeing here,” he told Wilkowski.

Fishermen speculated that the swordfish may have become disoriented by unusual ocean currents caused by the El Nino weather condition as it swam through the deep Redondo Canyon offshore.

But they wondered how long the graceful fish will survive in King Harbor. There is heavy boat traffic and dozens of swordfish boats with long harpoon planks attached to their bows are anchored at its docks. And an ugly film of bilge oil was floating over the area where the fish was swimming in circles.

“Everybody’s trying to get a game plan to save it,” said famed surfboard maker Dewey Weber of Hermosa Beach. “If we net it, it will beat itself to death. You could never hook it with a rod and reel.”

Marine biologist Jeff Landesman of the Cabrillo Marine Museum in San Pedro planned to take underwater close-up videos of the harbor swordfish. But he said there are no plans afoot for his organization to try to catch it and release it in the open water.

“He doesn’t look hurt,” Landesman said after watching the fish along with museum program director Larry Fukuhara. “There’s no need to rescue something that seems to be surviving very well.”

Harbor boat dwellers Winifred and Don Sudduth sprayed a mild detergent mixture into the water to break up the oily film. They said marina residents were also prepared to break up any move by over-enthusiastic harpooners. “This has become the marina pet,” Winifred Sudduth said.

Harbor Patrol Sgt. Conrad Kauble said the swordfish has the law on its side, too.

“There’s no fishing in King Harbor,” Kauble said. “And we enforce it.”