A Kodiak fisherman who pled guilty earlier this year to federal charges for sending diseased crab to Washington state, now faces fines for violations of the Clean Water Act.
Last week, on July 30, a federal judge in Anchorage imposed over $1.1 million in penalties against Corey Potter and three companies he manages, the F/V Knot EZ LLC, the Aleutian Tendering LLC and Alaska Tendering Company LLC, for discharging bilge which is a mix of contaminated fluids and water in coastal waters around Alaska.
The case goes back to at least the summer of 2022 when the Coast Guard discovered Potter was discharging oily bilge waste from the engine room of the fish tendering vessel Knot EZ while operating in the Gulf of Alaska and Bering Sea, according to a Coast Guard press release. The vessel’s engine room bilge is known to contain a mixture of fuel, lubricating oils, water and other wastes according to the Coast Guard.
At the time the Coast Guard was responding to a distress call and oil spill as the vessel was sinking at anchor in Kodiak’s harbor. According to the agency, the vessel, the Knot EZ, was regularly pumping bilge waste overboard at sea to avoid having to repair the leaking hull.
The Coast Guard said the vessel was taken out of service and removed from the water after determining it was a, “substantial threat to the safety of the waterway and the marine environment.”
Captain Christopher Culpepper, Commander of the Coast Guard’s Sector Western Alaska and U.S. Arctic, said in a press release, “the defendants’ illegal pollution practices and endangerment of their own crew could have been readily prevented through proper operation and maintenance of the vessel.”
According to charging documents, there were similar operational issues found on the Knot EZ between July of 2017 and July of 2022 when the vessel was under Potter’s management.
Earlier this year in May, Potter was sentenced to a year in jail for illegally transporting diseased Tanner crab from Alaska to Washington and violating the Lacey Act. A public defender representing him in the crab case asked for leniency in a presentencing memorandum, stating Potter was “financially destroyed” by his previous fishing mishaps and “has been reduced to relying upon family for assistance and has no viable means to support himself." That information was first reported by the Alaska Beacon.
Potter nor his lawyers could be reached for comment on the Clean Water Act charges.
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to note that Potter nor his lawyers could be reached for comment.
