A federal district court in Anchorage has imposed civil penalties exceeding $1.18 million against three Kodiak-based commercial fishing companies and their manager for Clean Water Act violations.
The judgment, entered against company manager Corey Potter and his three related companies – F/V Knot EZ LLC, Aleutian Tendering LLC, and Alaska Tendering Company LLC – follows their failure to respond to a complaint filed by the Department of Justice on behalf of the Coast Guard in October 2024.
The case originated from a July 2022 Coast Guard discovery that the defendants were regularly discharging oily bilge waste from their fish tendering vessel, Knot EZ, into Alaskan coastal waters. The illegal discharge practice was uncovered when the Coast Guard responded to a distress call and oil spill as the vessel was sinking at anchor in Kodiak Harbor.
Investigation revealed the defendants had installed an illegal discharge system and were pumping oily engine room waste overboard “on a daily or near daily basis” to avoid suspending operations and repairing the vessel’s heavily leaking hull.
The Coast Guard determined the vessel posed “a substantial threat to the safety of the waterway and the marine environment” and was “not fit for service at sea.” The Knot EZ has since been taken out of service.
“This enforcement action reinforces the importance of safety and pollution prevention measures within this fleet of fishing vessels,” said Captain Christopher Culpepper, Commander of the Coast Guard’s Sector Western Alaska and U.S. Arctic. “The defendants’ illegal pollution practices and endangerment of their own crew could have been readily prevented through proper operation and maintenance of the vessel. Commercial fishing vessel owners and operators must take care to operate safely and prevent oil discharges into our nation’s waters.”
The defendants contracted with fish processing companies to ferry supplies to fishing vessels in Bristol Bay and transport fish from those vessels to coastal processing plants. In addition to illegal discharges, the complaint included claims for violating requirements to provide sufficient capacity to retain oily bilge water onboard and to install dedicated piping for proper shore-side disposal.
Clean Water Act penalties paid for such violations are deposited in the federal Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which finances federal response activities and compensates for damages from oil discharges to U.S. waters.
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