Dredging company fined for ignoring environmental safeguards

The company that dredged the Falmouth Marina in the UK has been fined £40,000 (US$75,130) after ignoring environmental safeguards.

Premier Marinas, which dredged Falmouth Marina’s outer basin, ignored marine environment safeguards placed on their license to do the operation, a court heard. The general manager then falsified records of water quality sampling to hide the offences. Conditions of the license were designed to protect the area from sludge containing toxic substances from being introduced into the marine environment, West Cornwall Magistrates were told. The sediments dredged up were heavily contaminated with the boat anti-fouling paint, biocide tributyltin, or TBT, substance banned worldwide. The license granted by the Marine and Fisheries Agency (MFA) was supposed to allow it to be safely re-buried in deeper holes and re-capped with clean sediment within the Marina. However, following complaints by fishermen in the area that unusual dredged material was turning up offshore at the Falmouth Bay disposal site, the MFA launched an investigation. In a case brought by the MFA, Premier Marinas (Falmouth), and its general manager, John Osmond, together with the managing director of dredging contractors Sub Marine Services Ltd, Anthony Richards, pleaded guilty to a number of offences under the Food and Environment Protection Act. Magistrates ordered Premier Marinas to pay more than £40,000 in fines and costs.
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