Seafood company gets $2.5 million fine for dumping fish

Sept. 29 -- Trident Seafoods Corp., one the world´s largest seafood processing companies, agreed to pay a $2.5 million penalty and invest millions in processing waste controls to settle alleged Clean Water Act violations.

The U.S. EPA announced the settlement, saying the company had more than 480 Clean Water Act violations at 14 on-shore and off-shore Alaskan processing facilities. The violations included discharging waste without a permit, exceeding discharge limits, discharging waste into two National Wildlife Refuges and creating underwater piles of fish that were left after the processing was completed.

The agreement requires Trident to invest an estimated $30 million to $40 million, and potentially more, in source control and waste pile remediation measures, the U.S. EPA said.

"The upgrades will enable Trident to achieve and maintain compliance with the Clean Water Act, and will protect Alaskan waters, eliminate waste and create efficiencies that will serve as a model of best business practices for the seafood processing industry," said Ignacia Moreno, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, in a statement.

For more information on the settlement, visit the EPA online.

Contact Waste & Recycling News reporter Jeremy Carroll at jcarroll@crain.com or 313-446-6780.

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