Aerial view of a wharf in New Bedford Harbor showing a mystery spill of approximately 50 gallons of oil. Photo: US Coast Guard
OIL SPILL MYSTERY SOLVED!
For nearly two decades, New Bedford Harbor, located on the northwestern side of Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, has been one of the oldest and most profitable commercial fishing ports in the United States.
It has also had a serious oil pollution problem.
The Harbor has recorded at least one oil spill every month, and in some months as many as five spills each month, since 2010. While some of these incidents are accidental, the vast majority are deliberate – the result of commercial fishermen illegally dumping oily bilge waste into the water. But in the vast majority of cases, no source is ever identified.
However, an investigation into the accidental sinking of the fishing vessel Challenge on Aug 16, 2017, which spilled 4,200 gallons of diesel fuel into the water, has helped to solve at least part of this on-going mystery!
Deliberate Dumping While Fishing for Scallops
The Coast Guard discovered that the ship's owners were routinely dumping oily waste into the coastal waters while fishing for scallops! Their crimes were only revealed because of a freak accident. The fishermen had forgotten to turn the bilge pump off after docking in the harbor – and when a check valve failed, water flowed into the engine room and fish hold, sinking the ship!
The resulting spill, according to the Coast Guard, oiled 17 ducks, killing at least five of them.
Charles Quinn II and Charles Quinn III, the owners of two New Bedford fishing companies, Challenge Fisheries and Quinn Fisheries, have pled guilty, agreed to pay $414,000 in penalties, and promised to upgrade the pollution controls on their five vessel fishing fleet.
According to court documents, the defendants admitted to routinely pumping oily mixtures “on a daily or near-daily basis” out of the engine room bilge and into New Bedford Harbor and other U.S. waters.
Why did they do it? They wanted to extend the time they would spend at sea harvesting scallops!
Violating the Clean Water Act
The Quinns also violated the Clean Water Act by failing to provide sufficient capacity to retain all oily bilge water onboard the vessel. The complaint alleges that the defendants discharged engine room bilge, which contains a mixture of fuel, lubricating oils, water, and other wastes, into the ocean and New Bedford Harbor.
The Clean Water Act makes it a crime to discharge oil or hazardous substances into or upon the waters of the United States or adjoining shorelines in quantities that may be harmful to the environment or public health. Overboard discharges of oily mixtures, whether by directly pumping out oily bilge water that has not been properly treated, or by attempting to pump only the portion of oily bilge water beneath a floating oil layer in the bilge (so-called “decanting”), is also a crime under federal law.
The Coast Guard believes that 95% of the oil pollution in the harbor, and the waters along the coast, is caused by just 5% of the more than 500 commercial vessels sailing from the port of New Bedford.
“Today’s action sends a clear message to the commercial fishing fleet that Clean Water Act compliance must be a non-negotiable part of operations," Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division said in a press release.
While intentional marine oil pollution often happens far out at sea and can be difficult to prove or enforce, this case in New Bedford Harbor shows that these crimes also often happen close to home. And that the dumping is done by local commercial fishermen who don't seem to understand that dumping oily toxins on top of Massachusetts' most valuable marine food sources and vulnerable ecosystems is just bad business.
To learn more about the case, read the Justice Department’s press release regarding the settlement.
Other Sources:
https://www.savebuzzardsbay.org/news/through-clean-bilge-program-commercial-fishermen-are-protecting-new-bedford-harbor-from-oil-spills/
https://www.southcoasttoday.com/news/20180508/new-bedford-fishermen-to-pay-400k-to-settle-oil-pollution-claims
It has also had a serious oil pollution problem.
The Harbor has recorded at least one oil spill every month, and in some months as many as five spills each month, since 2010. While some of these incidents are accidental, the vast majority are deliberate – the result of commercial fishermen illegally dumping oily bilge waste into the water. But in the vast majority of cases, no source is ever identified.
However, an investigation into the accidental sinking of the fishing vessel Challenge on Aug 16, 2017, which spilled 4,200 gallons of diesel fuel into the water, has helped to solve at least part of this on-going mystery!
Deliberate Dumping While Fishing for Scallops
The Coast Guard discovered that the ship's owners were routinely dumping oily waste into the coastal waters while fishing for scallops! Their crimes were only revealed because of a freak accident. The fishermen had forgotten to turn the bilge pump off after docking in the harbor – and when a check valve failed, water flowed into the engine room and fish hold, sinking the ship!
The resulting spill, according to the Coast Guard, oiled 17 ducks, killing at least five of them.
Charles Quinn II and Charles Quinn III, the owners of two New Bedford fishing companies, Challenge Fisheries and Quinn Fisheries, have pled guilty, agreed to pay $414,000 in penalties, and promised to upgrade the pollution controls on their five vessel fishing fleet.
According to court documents, the defendants admitted to routinely pumping oily mixtures “on a daily or near-daily basis” out of the engine room bilge and into New Bedford Harbor and other U.S. waters.
Why did they do it? They wanted to extend the time they would spend at sea harvesting scallops!
Violating the Clean Water Act
The Quinns also violated the Clean Water Act by failing to provide sufficient capacity to retain all oily bilge water onboard the vessel. The complaint alleges that the defendants discharged engine room bilge, which contains a mixture of fuel, lubricating oils, water, and other wastes, into the ocean and New Bedford Harbor.
The Clean Water Act makes it a crime to discharge oil or hazardous substances into or upon the waters of the United States or adjoining shorelines in quantities that may be harmful to the environment or public health. Overboard discharges of oily mixtures, whether by directly pumping out oily bilge water that has not been properly treated, or by attempting to pump only the portion of oily bilge water beneath a floating oil layer in the bilge (so-called “decanting”), is also a crime under federal law.
The Coast Guard believes that 95% of the oil pollution in the harbor, and the waters along the coast, is caused by just 5% of the more than 500 commercial vessels sailing from the port of New Bedford.
“Today’s action sends a clear message to the commercial fishing fleet that Clean Water Act compliance must be a non-negotiable part of operations," Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division said in a press release.
While intentional marine oil pollution often happens far out at sea and can be difficult to prove or enforce, this case in New Bedford Harbor shows that these crimes also often happen close to home. And that the dumping is done by local commercial fishermen who don't seem to understand that dumping oily toxins on top of Massachusetts' most valuable marine food sources and vulnerable ecosystems is just bad business.
To learn more about the case, read the Justice Department’s press release regarding the settlement.
Other Sources:
https://www.savebuzzardsbay.org/news/through-clean-bilge-program-commercial-fishermen-are-protecting-new-bedford-harbor-from-oil-spills/
https://www.southcoasttoday.com/news/20180508/new-bedford-fishermen-to-pay-400k-to-settle-oil-pollution-claims