Raising a Stink : Strollers on New Redondo Pier Lash Out at Mess Left by Fishermen

Fish guts are causing something of a stink on the newly rebuilt Redondo Beach Pier.

Ever since the promenade--an upscale version of its rickety wooden predecessor--opened in February, city officials have fielded a steady stream of complaints from strollers miffed over splattered fish blood and entrails left by fishermen on the horseshoe-shaped walkway.

The eyesore has also touched off a tide of consternation among maintenance crews and even other fishermen.

“It’s a mess--it’s terrible,” said pier custodian Dexter Nagai, one of a handful of workers who trudge out to the pier every morning at 5 to steam-clean and hose down the boardwalk.

Spurred by the outcry, the city’s administrative staff has begun looking for ways to wipe out the blight, and City Councilman Joe Dawidziak has sought advice from Newport Beach, which grappled with a similar problem. Talk has even surfaced of banning fishing from the pier altogether.

“I’d hate to see that happen,” Dawidziak said. “I think fishing is a dying sport. I’d like to see it continue.”

But how did an activity that for years was synonymous with the Redondo Beach Pier suddenly become so vilified? Call it the new-car syndrome.

Just as a motorist frets over nicks and scratches in the body of a new roadster, Redondo Beach officials and citizens worry about blemishes on their sparkling new pier, with its sail-shaped awnings, palm tree planters and ocean-liner railings. The facility opened with community fanfare in February, seven years after much of its weathered predecessor was destroyed by fire and storms.

Carelessness among fishermen was less apparent on the old pier, Dawidziak said, because its porous wooden planks absorbed stains and its myriad tiny gaps and holes funneled away many a fish gut to the surf.

The giant concrete decks of the new pier have neither of those features. In fact, some of the stylish sea life graphics etched into the concrete inadvertently serve as collection pools for fish parts and blood.

The blight is most troublesome in the roughly 2,000-square-foot area of the pier open to fishing. Angling is prohibited along the structure’s remaining 94,000 square feet, although some fishermen still cast a line there.

The complaints are not without merit.

One recent evening, some fishing line and fish guts were scattered across the walkway, which was intermittently stained with pinkish splotches and rivulets. The rims of some nearby wooden planters also appeared to have been used as makeshift bait-cutting tables.

“It smells,” Torrance resident Mike Bennett said as he strolled past the throng of fishermen standing elbow to elbow along the railing. “Nobody wants to eat a good dinner and see fish guts on the pier. It’s just not a pleasant sight.”

Yet Efrain Diaz and Robert Legier, who frequently ride their bikes along the pier, said they have never noticed any problems. “Most of the time you come through here, it’s clean,” Diaz said.

Jim Hall, executive director of a marketing group that promotes the pier, agrees.

“I went out there [last week], and I didn’t think it was a mess. I mean honestly, it’s to be expected. It’s a fishing pier,” Hall said. “I would be the first one yelling if I thought it was a huge mess.”

Still, some of those disgruntled over the chowder of raw entrails are fishermen themselves.

“Because of the fish guts, you have to clean the seat off before sitting down,” said angler Dean Holder. Holder, of Bell Gardens, frequently drives to the pier after work to relax and enjoy his hobby.

Holder said he and most fishermen like him in the “day crew” pick up after themselves. “It’s mostly the night crew that leaves it a mess.”

The pier is open to the public 24 hours a day and draws a number of nocturnal fishermen, who maintenance workers agree are far messier than their daytime colleagues.

“It’s definitely the worst at 5 in the morning when we come out to clean,” said custodian Kirk Page. “You hit under the planter with the hose and mackerel come out and there’s maggots with them.”

The city spends about $300 a day to scour the pier with steam scrubbers and high-pressure hoses. While the fishing area only makes up about 2% of the pier, it takes workers roughly two hours out of their five-hour cleaning schedule to blast out all the stains.

After fielding dozens of complaints, the Redondo Beach City Council took up the issue last month when it ordered administrative staff to report to the council in 90 days on ways to stop the slop.

Not one to wait, Councilman Dawidziak decided to investigate the matter himself. He wrote a letter requesting guidance from Newport Beach officials, who solved a similar problem by threatening to prohibit fishing.

Tony Melum, head of the Newport Beach Marine Department, said the city took the action this year after trying for weeks to persuade fishermen to cooperate. The Newport Beach City Council passed an ordinance giving the city manager authority to close off all or part of the pier to fishing at his discretion. The tactic worked. The fishermen cleaned up their act and the Newport Beach pier is “spotless,” according to Assistant City Manager Ken Delino.

The maneuver might not have worked, however, if the anglers had called the city’s bluff.

Craig Manson, general counsel for the state Department of Fish and Game, said municipalities do not have the right to prohibit fishing from public piers unless they ban all access.

Delino vehemently disagreed.

“Au contraire, “ he said. “We can’t regulate fishing but we sure as hell can say whether it can be done from our pier or not.”

Dawidziak, however, is hoping to avoid such legal bickering. He would rather see the fishermen do the polite thing and pick up after themselves. “I think if we can get the word out to the fishermen, they should be able to self-correct this,” he said.

And that’s not asking too much, said fisherman Rip Williams. “You’re supposed to clean up after yourself no matter what you do.”