New Bedford, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based Sea Harvest and Fishing Vessel Enterprise pleaded guilty to repeatedly violating the Clean Water Act for repeatedly discharging oily bilge water from their fishing vessels.
As part of their guilty plea, the companies were fined USD 1 million (EUR 900,000) and will serve a five-year probation, according to a 16 December announcement from the U.S. Department of Justice.
According the DOJ, despite multiple warnings, the F/V Enterprise and F/V Pacific Capes – operated by Sea Harvest and owned by Fishing Vessel Enterprise – discharged oily bilge numerous times in New Bedford harbor, the Acushnet River, in 2017 and 2018. The owners were charged only after multiple warnings for previous incidents and after failing to attend an informational meeting regarding rules governing discharge of bilge water. Company representatives were also personally given handouts by the U.S. Coast Guard detailing the prohibition of oily bilge water discharge, the DOJ said.
“The defendants intentionally discharged pollutants from their fishing vessels into New Bedford Harbor,” Tyler Amon, the special agent in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division for New England, said in a press release. “It is important that we all treat our nation's resources with respect and to comply with our laws. EPA will continue to work with our enforcement partners with the state of Massachusetts and U.S. Coast Guard to investigate environmental crimes like this one that threaten marine life and the coastal waters of New England.”
As an addition, special condition of their probation, the companies will be required to implement an environmental compliance plan to cover their 36 commercial fishing vessels, at their own expense.
“The laws that govern the discharge of oily bilge waste from vessels have been on the books for decades,” Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division said. “Today’s plea should send the message that we will no longer tolerate the routine discharge of oily bilge waste into New Bedford Harbor and its surrounding waters. Vessel owners and operators can either voluntarily comply with laws that protect the nation’s waters or face criminal prosecution.”
Photo courtesy of Dan Logan/Shutterstock
