The company that operates the menhaden fishery in the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia has sentenced to $7.5 million in penalties for two violations of the Clean Water Act.
The government says Omega Protein Inc. was also sentenced to three years' probation Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Norfolk.
So what does probation mean in the the context of a company or industrial facility; do they come in monthly for drug tests and have frequent visits by parole officers? If they break the rules again, will they put the reduction facility in jail? Maybe they'll just close it.
The U.S. attorney's office says the punishment stems from the operation of its menhaden processing plant in Reedville and the fleet of ships Omega operates from that location.
The violations occurred between May 2008 and September 2010 when the company discharged water mixed with fish waste and pollutants into the Chesapeake Bay.
Omega is a Houston company that operates the so-called reduction fishery in Reedville. It processes an oily fish called menhaden that is used in fish oil and other products.
Ummm, yumm. Menhaden smell pretty disgusting when fresh; I can hardly imagine what a few thousand gallons of cooked, pressed oily fish juice smell like.
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