Whatcom businesses fined for dumping fish in the sewer
Premier Packing in Lynden was fined $7,000 for discharging fish skin and bones to the sanitary sewer system. This was the sixth time the business failed to screen fish tissue from its wastewater in six years. This is the first penalty issued to the business after years of warnings, notices and advice, according to Department of Ecology communications manager Scarlet Tang.
Despite visits to the site by the Department of Ecology, Premier Packing still had fish tissue in its wastewater in March 2022.
“Preventing fish tissue from entering the Lynden sewer system helps to keep the wastewater treatment plant running smoothly,” the Department of Ecology said in a news release Monday, Dec. 5, about the July fine.
The influent screen for the City of Lynden’s wastewater treatment plant caught the fish skin and bones, according to the release. The influent screen is the first part in the water treatment process. Water is allowed to pass through but large objects, such as the fish skin and bones, are stopped.
Premier Packing is required to pretreat its wastewater before discharging it into the Lynden sewer system. The business was also not properly sampling its wastewater as required, Tang said.
Premier Packing is a fish processor that specializes in Pacific Northwest seafood, according to Premier Packing President Doug Jay’s LinkedIn Page.
Jay’s previous business, D Jay Enterprises, Inc., went of business in 2011 after Jay was sentenced in U.S. District Court to two years in prison and fined $347,202 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Foundation for labeling coho (silver) salmon as chinook (king) salmon and selling it for a higher price. He was found guilty of placing over 160,072 pounds of falsely labeled fish into interstate and foreign commerce over a two-year period.
No one answered a call to Premier Packing’s telephone number.
This story was originally published December 6, 2022 at 11:09 AM.
CORRECTION: The number of fines for the business was incorrect in a headline on an earlier version of this story. It was corrected Dec. 7, 2022.
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