A seafood processor out of Sitka, Alaska has reached a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over discharge violations related to the federal Clean Water Act.
Silver Bay Seafoods, LLC, was found to have violated its wastewater discharge permit by the EPA during a routine inspections of the company’s Sitka facility. After the inspection, the EPA notified Silver Bay of the Clean Water Act violations, mandating that company complete a dive survey to assess the seafloor’s conditions near its discharge pipe. The survey was completed in 2017, revealing a 2.76-acre seafood waste pile, which was more than double the one-acre limit permitted for.
Seafood processing can reap “real damage to underwater ecosystems if permit limits aren’t maintained,” according to Ed Kowalski, director of EPA’s Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division in Seattle, Washington.
“Fish processing facilities have wastewater discharge permit limits for a reason,” said Kowalski in a press release. “Local receiving waters can get inundated with fish entrails, blood, oil and other byproducts at levels they just can’t handle. Where seafood waste piles exceed permit requirements, companies must take swift action to reduce discharge volumes and comply with legal limits.”
Silver Bay enacted proactive measures following the survey to reduce its discharge volumes and the size of the pile, installing a new treatment technology that reduced the seafood waste amount by almost 90 percent, the EPA said.
The terms of the settlement between Silver Bay and the EPA requires that the seafood firm continue to monitor the waste pile and conduct a more extensive assessment of environmental impacts if the pile size has not decreased to below the one-acre limit by December 2022. The company also paid a USD 82,500 (EUR 74,544) civil penalty.
Silver Bay Seafoods also undertook waste reduction measures and instituted new operating procedures prior to signing the EPA settlement, Kowalski confirmed.
In addition to the waste pile violation, the EPA also noted the following Clean Water Act transgressions in its Silver Bay inspection:
- Failure to monitor treatment system, sea surface and shoreline.
- Failure to develop an adequate best management practices plan.
- Failure to route seafood processing waste through a conveyance and treatment system.
- Unauthorized discharges of oil, blood, and foam.
Photo courtesy of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
