Justice Department fines 2 Hawaii commercial fishing companies over illegal discharge

Two Honolulu-based commercial fishing companies have been ordered to pay civil fines after they discharged oily bilge waste into the Pacific Ocean.

Under a settlement reached with the U.S. Department of Justice and the Coast Guard, Triple Dragon, LLC, its company manager and vessel operator have been ordered to pay fines totaling $25,500 for violations of the Clean Water Act and the Coast Guard’s spill prevention and pollution control regulations.

The other company, Capt. Millions III, its manager and vessel operator were ordered to pay fines totaling $22,000 for the same violations.

The Justice Department and Coast Guard claimed the companies “routinely pumped a mixture of fuel oil, lubricating oils, water and other fluids from the vessels’ engine room bilges into the Pacific Ocean rather than retain the waste on board.”

In a news release, Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, said, “Members of the fishing fleet who disregard those laws put the public’s health and our nation’s natural resources in jeopardy. The Justice Department and Coast Guard will continue to work together to hold companies and individuals who violate the Clean Water Act accountable.”

Under the settlement, both companies have also agreed to implement corrective measures that include repairing the vessels to reduce the quantity of oily waste generated during a fishing voyage; provide crewmembers training on the proper handling of oily wastes; document proper oily waste disposal; and submit compliance reports to the Coast Guard and the U.S. Department of Justice.