Ucluelet Harbour Seafood fined $25,000 for polluting Barkley Sound

National Observer

2 days ago

A seafood processing company in Ucluelet, BC, has been slapped with $25,000 in fines for repeatedly pumping harmful contaminants like ammonia, oil, grease and other fish offal well above permitted levels into the ocean over a two-year period.
The violations by Ucluelet Harbour Seafood (UHS) — owned by the large, US-based Pacific Seafood Group — are a 'major contravention' with a mix of pollutants significantly above discharge limits in 33 instances between May 2023 and August 2024, said the BC Ministry of Environment decision.
In 28 of those instances, UHS's wastewater pollutants exceeded allowed limits by more than 50 per cent, Kelly Mills, compliance section head, noted in the decision.
The top-end wastewater sample for toxic ammonia exceeded the allowable limit by 4,600 per cent. The highest sample test for fish offal and remains in wastewater exceeded the limit by 3,000 per cent. The highest fish oil and grease water sample reached a staggering 17,150 per cent above permitted amounts.
Ammonia can be toxic and harm aquatic life, especially invertebrates like shrimp, crabs, shellfish and zooplankton. Oil and grease can cause respiratory harm to marine mammals, like whales or sea lions and fish, as a result of damaged gills. High levels of fish waste solids can smother eggs and seabed animals, and deplete oxygen in the water, the decision said.
The wastewater from the seafood processing plant is discharged in Barkley Sound — potential habitat for numerous at-risk species, including endangered killer whales, basking sharks, leatherback sea turtles and northern abalone, Mills said. Other animals of concern include humpback and grey whales, Stellar sea lions, yellowed and rougheye rockfish, and bluntnose, tope, or six gill sharks.
Mills found the violations posed a 'moderate' potential threat to the environment, while UHS argued to the ministry prior to the final decision that the discharges posed little or no threat to the marine environment.
A BC processing plant hit with a $25,000 penalty belongs to US parent company Pacific Seafood that has a string of wastewater violations along the West Coast.
However, the violations themselves were categorized as a serious compliance issue because they could result in 'an actual significant impact or very serious threat to the environment or to human health,' Mills said.
The company was also penalized for a lesser violation of failing to monitor the daily volume of wastewater it was releasing for three stretches involving 134 days between March and October 2023.
In a statement attributed to Amy Wentworth, Pacific Seafood's senior director of environmental health, the company said it has made infrastructure improvements and procedure changes to fix the problems.
'We have made significant improvements at our UHS facility to strengthen environmental performance, including better dock procedures to reduce lost product, new water systems that speed up solids removal, and upgraded wastewater treatment that prevents overflows and improves efficiency,' Wentworth wrote.
'These upgrades have already reduced our levels, especially of the most concentrated organics, and will help prevent future exceedances. While we do not agree with all aspects of the penalties issued, and are in the process of appealing the fine, we remain committed to ongoing improvements. We've engaged outside engineering experts to support our continued efforts to lower our organics levels from fish processing.'
Tide of wastewater violations
The contraventions by UHS mirror a similar series of discharge violations and penalties incurred by its parent company, the Pacific Seafood Group at its US operations in Washington, Oregon and California for exceeding contaminant levels, releasing untreated effluents and waste, such as gloves, labels and shell fragments, into waterways.
The family-owned company is based in Oregon and runs 40 facilities across the US, Canada and Chile.
Pacific Seafood has been cited for repeated violations in the US.
The company is currently facing the threat of combined fines totalling US $250,800 after the company's Westport plant repeatedly flushed polluted wastewater into Half Moon Bay in Washington, and its Brookings Harbour facility in Oregon contravened wastewater quality and monitoring requirements.
Pacific Seafoods is appealing the proposed Westport site fine of $222,000 at a hearing set for mid-July. The latest contraventions follow significant violations and penalties issued at the Westport site in 2022 and 2020.
Washington authorities have expressed frustration with Pacific Seafoods' repeated violations.
'It's unacceptable that this facility is continuing to pollute Half Moon Bay after repeated citations and technical assistance,' said Vince McGowan, water quality program manager for the State of Washington Department of Ecology, in a press release last June.
'The majority of similar companies in the industry are able to meet permit requirements. The bottom line is that we need this facility to comply with their permit and stop polluting Half Moon Bay. This includes making any needed upgrades to their wastewater treatment system to fix the problem.'