Town of St. Mary’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, Breathes Sigh of Relief
The picturesque town of St. Mary’s in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, has been plagued by a foul smell for years. The source of the odor was discovered to be approximately 110 tanks containing 3,000 gallons of fermented fish sauce left behind at the abandoned Atlantic Seafood Sauce Company.
The Atlantic Seafood Sauce Company was abandoned over 20 years ago, leaving behind a site in disrepair. The windows were broken, the roof had blown off, and a January storm had knocked out a wall. The sauce continued to ferment, causing the bacteria to multiply and producing an unbearable stench.
St. Mary’s Volunteer Mayor Describes the Smell as ‘Worst Rotted Fish You Ever Smelled in Your Lifetime, Times 100’
According to Steve Ryan, the volunteer mayor of St. Mary’s, the smell was almost indescribable. ‘The worst rotted fish you ever smelled in your lifetime, times 100,’ he said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Ryan, who had briefly worked at the factory after graduating from high school in 1990, expressed mixed feelings about the cleanup operation. ‘It’s a big relief,’ he said, ‘but that kind of makes me a little bit mad.’ Ryan explained that every door they came to was closed in their face, and they were left to fend for themselves.
Cleanup Operation Underway
The cleanup operation, overseen by Sharp Management, involves draining the vats of left-behind fluid and mixing it with peat moss to absorb the liquid. Trucks with giant hoses will then suck up the material and transport it to a specially dug pit lined with high-density polyethylene used in landfills.
The project costs 1.7 million Canadian dollars ($1.21 million), with the community taking out a loan of 198,000 Canadian dollars ($140,973) to contribute. Although the town will get the money back at a later date, Ryan hopes that when the cleanup is complete, the memory of the foul smell will fade.
‘We’re such a small town, and we were left on our own,’ Ryan said. ‘For so many years, nobody had our backs.’ However, Ryan emphasized that the community ‘kept fighting and fighting’ because they knew they were right in what they were fighting for.
Sharp Management’s Glenn Sharp described the project as ‘a unique job.’ ‘This is a special waste,’ he said. ‘This does not fall under any of the standard classifications.’ The cleanup operation is expected to take several months to complete.
