TRIDENT Seafoods, one of the largest fish processors in the United States, has been ordered to pay $2.5-million for alleged clean water violations at its processing facilities in Alaska.
The fine, which is a civil penalty imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency, is one of the heaviest on a US seafood business in recent times.Trident, which has its head office in Seattle, has also agreed to spend several million more dollars to improve its facilities and clean up the sea floor to avoid future issues with seafood waste being discharged into the sea.
Ed Kowalski from the Environmental Protection Agency said: "We anticipate it could change the way the seafood industry does business up there (Alaska)."
The EPA maintained that the company had illegally discharged waste and other pollutants and failed to submit timely and accurate annual reports, among other violations.
Jo Plesha, the company's head legal spokesman, said the company was extremely upset when it learned it had not been in complete compliance with its discharge paperwork - and indeed very surprised when the violations were pointed out. Trident had now updated and restructured its environmental compliance procedures.
Founded in 1973 with just one fishing boat, Trident Seafoods describes itself as a vertically integrated harvester, processor and marketer of seafood from Alaska, the Northwest Pacific and around the world.
It has grown into a giant in the seafood business, a privately held American-owned corporation operating offshore processors and shore-side plants throughout Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. Its registered trademark is the finest seafoods - “From the Source to the Plate.”
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