Salmon processor fined for allowing waste to pile up on sea floor

Federal regulators have fined Silver Bay Seafoods USD 82,500.

Alaska Public reports that authorities have fined frozen seafood processor Silver Bay Seafoods, for allowing its waste pile on the seafloor to more than double the size allowed by its permit.

The company – one of the largest seafoods companies in the state – operates six domestic processing facilities (salmon-to-squid) throughout Alaska and the West Coast.

EPA compliance officer Tara Martich said Silver Bay’s dive surveys revealed the extent of the plant’s pollution in Sawmill Cove, Alaska, USA.

“They found a 2.75 acre pile and that was much larger than the one-acre limit in their permit,” Martich told the publication.

The company paid a USD 82,500 penalty and is opting to put a screen on its waste pipe to reduce the volumes it discharges.

Under the terms of a settlement the company signed in September, Silver Bay has until the end of 2022 to reduce the pile to cover one acre or less.

Last year, it was fined USD 73,000 over another Clean Water Act violation due to discharged untreated sanitary waste to the beach under its facility’s dock in Metlakatla, Alaska.

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