Company fined $350,000 for depositing damaging substance in Fraser River

VANCOUVER – Environment and Climate Change Canada says a dredging company has been fined $350,000 for depositing a damaging substance into water frequented by fish in British Columbia.

The department says in a news release that Fraser River Pile and Dredge (GP) Inc. pleaded guilty to the Fisheries Act violation and a B.C. provincial court imposed the fine last week.

The release says the company was dredging in Deas Slough in the Fraser River in February 2014 when its vessel punctured a submerged water main carrying chlorinated water to the City of Delta.

Enforcement officers investigated the incident and the department says they determined that chlorinated water was released through the pipe into the waterway.

It says Deas Slough is an important fish-bearing body of water and the concentration of chlorine that was released was damaging to fish.

As a result of this conviction, it says the company’s name will be added to an environmental offenders registry.