5 questions about the St. Mary’s fish sauce cleanup

1. What happened in St. Mary’s in Canada?

Crews began a major cleanup this week of about 110 abandoned tanks, each holding 3,000 gallons of fermented fish sauce, at the long-closed Atlantic Seafood Sauce Co. The plant fell into disrepair over more than 20 years, with broken windows, a blown-off roof and storm damage, while the sauce inside kept fermenting and producing a powerful stench that spread over the town when the wind blew.

2. Why does this matter to residents?

St. Mary’s volunteer mayor, Steve Ryan, told The Associated Press: “The worst rotted fish you ever smelled in your lifetime, times 100.” 

3. Who is involved in the cleanup effort?

Ryan, who once briefly worked at the factory after high school, led the town’s push for government funding. Glenn Sharp, owner of Sharp Management, is overseeing the cleanup, which he described as a “unique job” involving waste that doesn’t fit standard classifications.

4. What happens next?

Over the coming months, workers will drain the tanks and mix the fluid with peat moss to absorb it, then use trucks with hoses to transport the material to a specially lined pit that has been dug and prepared with landfill-grade polyethylene. Once filled, the pit will be covered with topsoil.

5. What is the cost, and who is paying for it?

The project costs $1.21 million, funded by the provincial government, while the town had to take out a loan of about $140,973 toward the effort, which it will later be reimbursed. The federal government did not contribute to the cost, a point the mayor said left him frustrated after years of what he described as being ignored by officials.

For more on this report, read “Rotten fish sauce that has long stunk up a small Canadian town is finally being removed” from The Associated Press, published on The Washington Times.