Town of Trenton fined $100,000 for violating the Fisheries Act in Nova Scotia

PICTOU, NS, Feb. 16, 2024 /CNW/ - The Government of Canada enforces the laws that protect Canada's air, water, and natural environment, and takes pollution incidents and threats to the environment seriously.

On February 15, 2024, the Town of Trenton was ordered to pay a total of $100,000, after pleading guilty to one count of violating the Fisheries Act at the Provincial Court of Nova Scotia in Pictou County. The total fine will be directed to the Government of Canada's Environmental Damages Fund. In addition to the sentence, the court also issued an order with a number of conditions to be met within 18 months. Some of the conditions include: training on the Fisheries Act and its requirements; training on proper effluent sampling protocols for Town of Trenton employees and contractors; completing routine sampling; and publishing emergency contact information and information about the incident and sentencing on the Town of Trenton website.

The charge stemmed from an Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement investigation, which determined that raw sewage was discharged into Lowden Brook between June 1, 2019, and January 4, 2020. Lowden Brook is a tributary to the East River that supports populations of Speckled Trout, Brown Trout, and Atlantic Salmon.

On November 13, 2019, Environment and Climate Change Canada enforcement officers received a complaint of a strong sewage smell around Lowden Brook along North Main Street in Trenton, Nova Scotia. When officers conducted an on-site inspection, they located an outfall that was releasing what appeared to be raw sewage into the brook. It was determined that the outfall was connected to the Town of Trenton's municipal infrastructure. Officers collected samples from the outfall and at the entry point into Lowden Brook for chemistry, microbiology, and toxicology analysis.

After lab results determined that there were high levels of E. coli at the outfall and the culvert, and that the effluent was toxic to fish, on December 20, 2019, officers issued a Fisheries Act written Direction to the Town of Trenton. The Direction required the town to develop a plan to stop the deposit of the deleterious substance and provide regular monitoring reports until the deposit was stopped. The deposit ceased on January 3, 2020.

Because of this conviction, the Town of Trenton will be added to the Environmental Offenders Registry. The Registry contains information on convictions of corporations registered for offences committed under certain federal environmental laws.

Environment and Climate Change Canada has created a free subscription service to help Canadians stay current with what the Government of Canada is doing to protect the natural environment.

• Environment and Climate Change Canada administers and enforces the pollution prevention provisions of the Fisheries Act. The pollution prevention provisions include subsection 36(3) of the Fisheries Act which prohibits the deposit of a deleterious substance into water frequented by fish, or in a place where it may enter water frequented by fish.
• A Fisheries Act Direction is a compliance tool that may be issued by enforcement officers when there is an unauthorized deposit of a deleterious substance into water frequented by fish, or when there is a serious and imminent danger of such an incident and immediate action is necessary. The Direction may require the person to take all reasonable measures consistent with safety and the conservation of fish and fish habitat.
• Created in 1995, the Environmental Damages Fund is a Government of Canada program administered by Environment and Climate Change Canada. The Fund helps ensure that court-awarded penalties are used to repair environmental damage or benefit the environment. The Fund receives and redirects the money from court penalties and settlements and aims to invest in areas where the environmental damage occurred.

• Frequently Asked Questions: Fisheries Act Pollution Prevention Provisions
• Testing for Toxicity to Fish
• Environmental Damages Fund
• Environmental Offenders Registry

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SOURCE Environment and Climate Change Canada