KEANSBURG -- Public works crews in Keansburg have been working for two days to clean up the thousands of baitfish that washed ashore after a massive fish kill in a local creek.

While Mayor George Hoff labeled the kill that started on Monday at Waackaack Creek a "moderate" one for New Jersey, he said it still left the crews with a lot of dead fish to clean up.

"It's one of the bigger ones we've had," he said, recalling a fish kill event about 15 years ago that was larger. "But it does happen every year along the shore and other places."

State environmental officials surmise the peanut bunker, which are only a few inches long and used as bait, were chased into the creek and other surrounding waterways in Keansburg and Hazlet, by either bluefish or skates. They said the fish died naturally from a lack of oxygen there.

Hoff said that because of the excessive heat of the past couple weeks, the creek had an algae bloom that reduced oxygen in the waterway. The oxygen in the creek was further reduced by the sheer number of peanut bunker - estimated at the hundreds of thousands - that wound up in the creek, he said.

The task now for public works crews, Hoff said, is to collect the fish on shore using a beach rake attached to a front-end loader. The rake, usually used to pick up debris and litter from the beach, is attached to a receptacle that is dumped in a municipal Dumpster on the beach by a bathhouse, Hoff said.

The cleanup was hampered slightly on Tuesday because of a mechanical problem with the front-end loader that was later repaired, the mayor said.

The Dumpster was strategically placed to keep it as far away from residents as possible.

"We're trying to keep it in an area where the smell won't affect anybody," he said.

The Dumpster will be trucked to the Monmouth County landfill in Tinton Falls where a hole will be dug and the fish will be buried to reduce the smell, said county spokeswoman Laura Kirkpatrick.

Hoff said the borough is only cleaning up the fish on land. The ones in the water, he said, they'll let wash out with the tide.

He said the beach is open, the water is safe for swimming and the fish kill poses no health risk to the public.

The stench of dead fish Tuesday afternoon reached Route 36, about a mile from the Thornes Creek in Hazlet.

But residents who lived along the creek were unfazed by the rotten smell. It comes with living so close to the bay, they said.

"If you want to live next to the water, this is something you have to live with," said James Dow, who has lived on First Avenue in Hazlet for 64 years.

Dow had his windows cracked and his front door wide-open Tuesday afternoon. "It happens once in a while," he said.

For Nicole and Brian Kemak, who have lived on North Park Avenue in Hazlet for 10 years, the view of the marina is worth bearing such a strong stench every once in a while.

"It's the price you pay for living so close to the water," Brian Kemak said. "But on normal days, this isn't so bad," he added, referring to scenery.

Ruth Wells said she had her windows open in the morning but decided to close them as the smell got worse.

"It's pretty nasty," she said.

Peter Szeles, a resident at the Belvedere Hotel in Keansburg across the creek, said the odor "comes in waves."

"It's horrible," he said. "When I woke up this morning, it went away, but now it's back. The first time I smelled it, I said, 'Something isn't right.'"

MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.