Abandoned St. Mary's fish sauce plant finally getting cleaned up, says mayor

CBC

a day ago

After years of calling for the clean up at a long-abandoned fish sauce plant, the mayor of St. Mary's is celebrating that the end is finally in sight — something he says he once doubted would ever happen.
The Atlantic Seafood Sauce Co. plant in St. Mary's, on Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula, has not operated in two decades. Over the years, residents have complained about the rancid smell and vats of decomposing sauce inside the derelict building.
Mayor Steve Ryan said the provincial government has set aside money in the recent budget for its clean up, an amount he declined to disclose.
"We finally are almost over the finish line," Ryan told CBC Radio's The Broadcast.
He said the town is working with the Department of Environment and Climate Change to write a tender for a consultant, who will then help the town select a company that can clean the site of the former plant.
In 2023, CBC Investigates uncovered an Environment Canada report in 2016 on testing results on effluent from the abandoned facility. It had found effluent killed fish within 15 minutes, and was described as "acutely lethal" to fish.
A pipe was sealed to stop the effluent from running into the water.
In a previous interview, Ryan told CBC News the community was never informed about the Environment Canada laboratory results.
'Pretty emotional'
Ryan said the funding is good news for the town, and it comes after years of trying to get movement on the problem. He credits Placentia-St. Mary's MHA Sherry Gambin-Walsh for the help, as well as former premier Andrew Furey.
Many residents thought the clean up would never happen, he said. It's been a for the last 10-year battle of his own, and there were times when he almost gave up.
"The day that I got a call from our MHA to say that this has happened, it's in the budget, I got to say, it was pretty emotional," he said.
'Need to remove it'
Gambin-Walsh said she has been working on the problem since she was first elected in 2015, and after a lot of collaboration the province is going to financially support the removal of the vats.
"As the MHA, all I can tell you is that I've been persistent in getting this cleaned up," she told CBC News.
WATCH | There's relief over a potential clean up that could clear the air in St. Mary's:
Smelly fish sauce plant gets money for cleanup — and St. Mary's mayor admits he got 'emotional'
4 hours ago
Duration 1:20
The rancid smell and vats of decomposing sauce have plagued the community of St. Mary's for years, but a clean up seemed out of reach. As the CBC's Elizabeth Whitten reports, funding from the provincial government means it's closer than ever.
She said the town taking ownership of the plant was a key part in solving the problem. Like Ryan, she declined to state the amount the province is providing.
"I don't think it will be a good idea for me to disclose that amount in this tendering competitive process," said Gambin-Walsh.
Timing was also a key part of moving the work forward, as there are concerns that the aging building will collapse. Gambin-Walsh said cleaning it up now is a precautionary measure.
"The building is getting old and, you know, I don't think it can safely contain the material much longer," she said. "So we really do need to remove it."