A charter-boat crew member choked to death Friday after swallowing a bait fish as a joke in front of elementary-school children during a field trip in the Port of Long Beach, authorities said today.

Jeff Twaddle, 54, of Huntington Beach, “was trying to be lighthearted when he put this thing in his mouth” on Friday, said Long Beach Fire Chief Frank Hayes. “But it became an airway obstruction, and he lost consciousness and went into full cardiac arrest.”

Other crew members on board the Gail Force, which had been chartered by the Los Angeles Unified School District to take 20 students on a fishing trip along the breakwater, tried to dislodge the fish and administer CPR but were unsuccessful, authorities said. (An earlier version of this post incorrectly referred to the boat as Gale Force.)

Twaddle was transported to St. Mary Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 1:15 p.m. Friday, according to Los Angeles County Coroner Lt. Fred Corral. An autopsy determined that “this was an accident,” Corral said.

“The cause of death was listed as aspiration of fish.” School district officials sent letters home to parents about the incident and offered crisis counseling to the students who were on board the vessel, authorities said.

-- From a Times Staff Writer