Ellamar Slimed by Fish Filth from Floating Processors

Ellamar Slimed by Fish Filth from Floating Processors
By Lee Revis
Editor, Valdez Star
ELLAMAR- Calling it an unfortunate accident of tides and hot weather, residents of the sleepy little settlement of Ellamar, two miles away from the Village of Tattilek, were disgusted and outraged last week when the shores of the seaside settlement, which is the front yard for many homes, was polluted by discharged fish waste from two mammoth floating fish processors that were operating off the shore, according to residents. "It smelled like someone dropped a honey bucket all over the place," said year round resident Moi Lindenau, after suffering through the stench on Monday and Tuesday of last week.
The slime, which by itself is unsightly but only mildly fishy in smell when discharged, turns into a strong foul odor when it cooks in the sunlight, which was out in force last week. "It lays there and putrefies," said Dave Linenau, who made several visits via skiff to at least one of the ships, trying to find a remedy to the problem. "It attracts a lot of bears."
At last report, the processors had moved off to the shores of Naked Island, which attracts visitors, but is not a residential area. "They're fisherman, that's the smell of money," said Chris Saal, a seasonal resident who has operated a lodge in Ellamar since 1974. "These guys aren't doing anything illegal," he said but added, "They should go where there's no people."
The large at sea processors, which essentially operate as floating offshore fish processing factories, are permitted to discharge fish waste by the EPA, which regulates the industry. These ships have to be at least a mile off shore and operate in waters well over 225 feet in depth according to Sharmon Stambaugh, the Manger of Industrial Waste for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. "We did get some Coast Guard photos," she said, and an investigation is underway to determine if the terms of the permits were violated by any of the vessels operating in the area.
Lindenau says personnel on the ships volunteered to try to clean up the shore lines, and lengthened the discharge hoses used to send the waste out to sea before they moved away from the shores.