Dutch Harbor, Alaska, U.S.A.-based seafood wholesaler UniSea has agreed to pay a civil penalty of USD 5,900 (EUR 5,189) for alleged violations to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Clean Water Act.
The EPA alleged in formal documents that UniSea "failed to comply with its National Polutant Discharge Elimination System Multi-Sector General Permit" at the company's Dutch Harbor facility. The EPA said the permit covers discharges of pollutants into Iliuliuk Harbor, and the agency said the company violated it by allowing discharges into the stormwater system over a three-year period.
UniSea's President Tom Enlow responded to the violations in an email to Alaska local news station KUCB, saying the violations were "minor and easily corrected."
In EPA documents, the overall level of environmental harm was classified as low. The first alleged violation was classified under "non-numeric technology-based effluent limits" from June 2022 to April 2025. Under the settlement, UniSea will pay a civil penalty of USD 1,172 (EUR 1,030) for that. The second alleged violation was a failure to update the Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan during the period from July 2020-July 2025 and was categorized as a moderate risk. The company has agreed to resolve the issue by paying a USD 4,688 (EUR 2,364) civil penalty.
The agreement states fines must be paid within 30 days of notice
The EPA is accepting public comments on the settlement until 19 August 2026.
