A long-running source of odour and frustration in St. Mary’s, N.L., is finally headed for removal: 110 vats of abandoned fish sauce waste left behind after a local plant closed 25 years ago.
The cleanup is expected to involve about 2,000 cubic metres of material — roughly the equivalent of 200 standard dump-truck loads — moved from the small Avalon Peninsula town to a landfill in Sunnyside, about 160 kilometres away. The Town of St. Mary’s announced June 5 that Capital Environmental had been awarded the contract with a bid of just over $1.74 million, according to CBC Radio.
The work would close a chapter that residents and town officials say has defined municipal life for years. The Atlantic Seafood Sauce Company opened in 1990 and shut down about a decade later, leaving behind 150 large vats of fermenting fish sauce. Mayor Steve Ryan told CBC that 110 vats remain, many with rusted or leaking bottoms, and that debris from the process is 30 centimetres deep in places on the floor.
Deputy Mayor Yvonne Bishop, who also drives a school bus in the roughly 300-person town, described the smell as worse than a rotten whale. “It’s time for it to be gone,” she said.
A careful and smelly removal job
The waste will not simply be scooped up and hauled away. Consulting engineer Glenn Sharp, who designed the disposal plan, told CBC the remaining material ranges from liquid to solid, including ground capelin and salt used in the fish-sauce-making process.
The contractor is expected to mix the material with peat to make it more solid and reduce the risk of leaks during transport and storage. It would then be sealed and buried in large landfill cells. Sharp said standard dump trucks with sealed liners could be used, though larger vehicles could reduce the number of trips if the material is moved in leak-proof containers.
The cleanup may bring one final unpleasant stretch for St. Mary’s. Sharp said mixing the fish waste with peat is likely to be “highly odorous,” though sealed transport containers are expected to limit smells once the material is on the road.
How the problem lasted decades
The plant was originally promoted as a way to turn male capelin — which had little market value compared with roe-bearing females — into fish sauce for sale. Founder Sanh Ngo told CBC the Newfoundland climate meant fermentation took years rather than months, unlike in Vietnam.
The operation later ran into federal inspection problems. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency cited mould and flies in 2001, products were detained, and the plant closed. Ngo disputed the inspection findings, and courts later found inspectors had not shown how the cited problems would contaminate the sauce. By then, CBC reported, Ngo had lost the registration needed to operate and did not regain it.
For years, officials argued over who should pay to clean up the site. The Newfoundland and Labrador government is now covering the cost with money set aside in its 2025 budget. A provincial spokesperson told CBC the government’s action does not rule out future legal or enforcement steps against the polluter.
In Sunnyside, Mayor Wanda Simmonds told CBC she has no concerns about odour or negative effects from receiving the waste. The town is expected to receive about $300,000 in tipping fees, money she said could support municipal renovations, emergency funds and efforts to keep property taxes down.
For St. Mary’s, the remaining question is when the last load leaves. Ryan said the plant issue has been on the agenda at every council meeting for the past decade. Residents are now looking toward a summer cleanup that could end one of the town’s most persistent problems.
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