St. Mary’s Fish-Sauce Plant Cleanup Begins

On July 28, 2026, crews entered the long-abandoned Atlantic Seafood Sauce Company plant in St. Mary’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, and cut open the remaining vats. The fermenting fish-sauce sludge is being pumped into peat moss, solidified, and then hauled by trucks to a lined disposal pit that was prepared over three weeks. The operation is expected to last two to three months and will involve roughly 200 trucks.

Rotten fish sauce that has stunk up a small Canadian town is finally being removed

The plant was constructed in 1989-90 and ceased operations in the early 2000s after Canadian food-inspection authorities shut it down. When the facility was abandoned, 110 tanks—each holding 3,000 gallons of fish sauce—were left on site. Over more than two decades the sauce continued to ferment, producing a foul odor that drifts into the town’s school, playground, town hall and post office whenever prevailing winds carry it. Earlier attempts to dump the tanks at sea were halted by the federal government, leaving the community to confront the stench on its own.

New York Times

• 110 tanks of fish-sauce sludge remain.

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• The cleanup contract is valued at C$1.7 million (? US$1.21 million).

Rotten fish sauce that has stunk up a small Canadian town is finally being removed

• St. Mary’s contributed a C$198,000 loan (? US$141 k) that will be reimbursed later.

Rotten fish sauce that has stunk up a small Canadian town is finally being removed

• The disposal pit is lined with high-density polyethylene and will be covered with topsoil after filling.

Rotten fish sauce that has stunk up a small Canadian town is finally being removed

He said the town’s “crusade” to secure provincial funding finally succeeded, though the federal government provided no financial assistance.

New York Times

Glenn Sharp, owner of Sharp Management, which is overseeing the removal, called the task “a special waste” that does not fit standard classifications.

Rotten fish sauce that has stunk up a small Canadian town is finally being removed

• “That kind of makes me a little bit mad,” — Steve Ryan — Steve Ryan, volunteer mayor

Rotten fish sauce that has stunk up a small Canadian town is finally being removed

• “Take the worst rotten fish you’ve ever smelled in your life and times it by 100,” — Stephen Ryan — Stephen Ryan, mayor

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• “Some days you can, some days you can’t, depending on prevailing winds,” — Mr. Ryan — Stephen Ryan, mayor

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• “We couldn’t be more proud than to be standing here today and watching this fish sauce leave this community.” — Chris Tibbs — Chris Tibbs, Newfoundland minister of environment

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