Alaska processor Silver Bay Seafoods has agreed to pay Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) $467,469 (€439,000) for water quality violations at its Naknek River facility in Bristol Bay.
The company has also agreed to take corrective actions in response to significant violations of its Alaska Pollutant Discharge Eliminations System (APDES) permit, according to the state agency.
"In addition to numerous violations found at the facility during a scheduled on-site inspection in 2021, the company also repeatedly discharged significantly more fish waste into the Naknek River than permitted, despite DEC denying Silver Bay Seafoods' request to exceed discharge limits," the state agency said.
Silver Bay Seafoods' permit allowed for the discharge of up to 10 million pounds of fish waste a year. They exceeded the limit without authorization by 2.9 million pounds in 2017 and by 5.1 million pounds in 2020.
“Silver Bay Seafoods voluntarily implemented corrective actions before the settlement was finalized," Abby Fredrick, Silver Bay's director of communications told IntraFish.
"We are confident those measures will ensure compliance for this season and beyond.”
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