Cleanup Crews Remove Decades-Old Rotting Fish Sauce From St. Mary’s Plant

Cleanup crews began work on Tuesday to remove decades-old rotting fish sauce from the Atlantic Seafood Sauce Company plant in St. Mary’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, after the site was abandoned in the early 2000s.

“$2 million was budgeted in 2025 for the cleanup, which officially began on Tuesday.”

CBC

St. Mary’s mayor Steve Ryan said the smell had been so bad that he told The New York Times, "Take the worst rotten fish you've ever smelled in your life and times it by 100," as workers started cutting open tanks.

Associated Press

The cleanup left 110 tanks behind, each holding 3,000 gallons of now long-fermented fish sauce, and the work is budgeted at $2 million for 2025.

CBC reported the plant has just under 900,000 litres of fish sauce to manage, with crews expected to finish by October.

The operation is being undertaken by Sharp Management, which is cutting open the tanks, mixing the contents with peat moss, and shipping the waste out in over 200 truckloads to Sunnyside.

Workers are clearing out 110 tanks, each holding 3,000 gallons of rotten sauce, by cutting open the tanks and mixing the contents with peat moss to solidify it for transport.

Lead engineer Glenn Sharp said the waste will be contained in a specialized 2,000 cubic-metre waste cell, and he described the landfill as "the only landfill in the province that's designated to take organic waste."

CBC

Sharp told reporters the waste will be housed in a design intended to prevent odor from escaping, saying, "It's the only landfill in the province that's designated to take organic waste."

CP24 said the first load of rotting, decades-old fish sauce was trucked away from the abandoned factory in St. Mary’s on Tuesday, marking the beginning of the end of a decades-long fight.

The Associated Press reported the pit was dug over three weeks and lined with high-density polyethylene used in landfills, with the pit covered with topsoil at the end.

The cleanup followed years of legal and regulatory battles after the Atlantic Seafood Sauce Company opened the plant in 1990 and was abandoned in the early 2000s, leaving the community dealing with sludge and stench.

“Environment Minister Chris Tibbs told the crowd of residents that gathered in St. Mary’s on Tuesday”

CBC

CBC said collaboration with all levels of government had been decades in the making over who was responsible for the cleanup, and it reported the Newfoundland and Labrador government is finally picking up the tab.

Environment Minister Chris Tibbs told residents gathered in St. Mary’s on Tuesday that government is committed to seeing the work through, saying, "We are only too happy to be involved as a provincial government and to see this through."

The Associated Press reported the project costs 1.7 million Canadian dollars ($1.21 million), and it said the community had to take out a hefty loan of 198,000 Canadian dollars ($140,973) to contribute.

Ryan said the smell had vexed the town "when the wind blows their way," and he told the Associated Press, "Every door we came to was just closed in our face."