Home / Environment / 25-Year Fish Stink Finally Cleared in St. Mary's
25-Year Fish Stink Finally Cleared in St. Mary's
15 Jun
Summary
- 150 vats of fermenting fish sauce left by a closed company created a 25-year stench.
- Cleanup requires approximately 200 dump truck trips to a landfill 160 km away.
- The provincial government is funding the $1.74 million cleanup effort.
The town of St. Mary's, Newfoundland and Labrador, is finally set to eliminate a 25-year-old odor problem caused by 150 decaying vats of fish sauce. The Atlantic Seafood Sauce Company closed two decades ago, leaving behind the malodorous legacy that has plagued the small community. The situation worsened in January when a storm damaged the abandoned building, making the site more hazardous.
Now, 110 vats remain, many leaking, with the floor accumulating 30 centimeters of debris. After years of governmental stalemate over cleanup responsibility, the province has allocated funds to address the crisis. A contract worth over $1.74 million was awarded in May to Capital Environmental for the removal and disposal of the waste.
The cleanup involves mixing the liquid and solid fish waste with peat moss to stabilize it for transport. Approximately 200 dump truck loads will be needed to move the estimated 2,000 cubic meters of material to a landfill in Sunnyside, 160 kilometers away. Despite the process potentially intensifying the smell temporarily, residents eagerly anticipate the final removal.
The original fish sauce venture, started in 1990, aimed to utilize male capelin fish. However, issues with fermentation processes and regulatory problems led to the company's closure in 2001. The town council, eager for employment, is now more cautious about new businesses, having taken ownership of the contaminated land due to unpaid taxes.
