The federal district court in Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.A., has fined three commercial fishing companies based in Kodiak, Alaska, over USD 1.1 million (EUR 950,000) for violations of the Clean Water Act.
According to a release from the U.S. Coast Guard, F/V Knot EZ LLC, Aleutian Tendering LLC, Alaska Tendering Company LLC, and company manager Corey Potter were hit with a civil fine of USD 1.18 million (EUR 1.02 million) for the violations.
The U.S. Coast Guard said the case was first filed in October 2024 by the U.S. Department of Justice after the Coast Guard discovered that Potter was discharging oily bilge waste from the engine room of his fish-tendering vessel into coastal waters. It said engine room bilge can often contain fuel, lubricating oils, and other wastes.
Potter operated the vessels in Bristol Bay, where he contracted with fish-processing companies to bring supplies to fishing vessels and then, in turn, pick up and deliver loads of fish from those vessels back to the processing plants.
The Coast Guard said it discovered the violation when responding to a distress call from the F/V Knot EZ as the vessel was sinking at anchor in Kodiak Harbor. According to a release from the Coast Guard, it found an illegal discharge system on board the vessel that would regularly pump the oily bilge overboard “on a daily or near daily basis” to avoid halting any business operations to repair the heavily leaking hull of the vessel.
“Upon discovery of the oil discharge in Kodiak Harbor and the degraded condition of the vessel, the Coast Guard, through its Captain of the Port order authority, determined that the vessel was a ‘substantial threat to the safety of the waterway and the marine environment’ and was ‘not fit for service at sea,’” the Coast Guard said.
After the initial discovery, a further investigation found what the Coast Guard called “a pattern of illegal oil discharges and related violations.”
The Coast Guard also said efforts to negotiate a resolution of the numerous violations with Potter were “unproductive.”
“This enforcement action reinforces the importance of safety and pollution prevention measures within this fleet of fishing vessels,” Captain Christopher Culpepper, the commander of the Coast Guard’s Western Alaska and U.S. Arctic Sector, said. “The defendants’ illegal pollution practices and endangerment of their own crew could have been readily prevented through proper operation and maintenance of the vessel. Commercial fishing vessel owners and operators must take care to operate safely and prevent oil discharges into our nation’s waters.”
