Alaska Processor Lets 400 Tons Of Salmon Rot, Stiffs Workers, Fishermen Who Caught It - ENN

[hatrack]

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A defunct fish processor accused of letting 400 tons of Alaska salmon rot and stiffing the fishermen who sold it has been charged with five misdemeanors for what prosecutors called "an environmental and economic catastrophe." The Alaska attorney general's office filed charges of violating Alaska's Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act this week against Wild Alaskan Seafood Co. LLC, and its primary manager, Jeremy M. Oliver, 36, both of Washington state. Also charged was the company's banker, Strategica Import-Export Financial Group LLC, and its manager, Jay Enis, both of Florida.

Neither Oliver nor Enis could be reached for comment Thursday. If convicted, the men could face up to a year in jail on each charge, and the corporations could face a $200,000 fine per charge.

Oliver had little experience in the Alaska seafood industry when he helped form Wild Alaskan Seafood in 2004 with the plan to freeze whole salmon for shipment to out-of-state wholesalers. He leased a processing plant in Ekuk, once a Yup'ik Eskimo village on Alaska's southwest coast, and told fishermen that an Oregon company would buy their fish and his employees would renovate the plant. Strategica bought Wild Alaskan Salmon's assets in early June 2004 and the right to control its activities, but Oliver remained manager.

Prosecutors say Oliver painted a rosy picture of the business plan. He hired dozens of seasonal workers and started operations on June 14, 2004, purchasing salmon from more than three dozen fishermen. But fishermen almost immediately began warning state officials that the company's storage wasn't adequate. When Alaska State Troopers visited Ekuk on June 27, 2004, an ice machine wasn't working, freezers were too warm, and water in refrigerated sea water tanks used to hold newly delivered fish was too warm, prosecutors say.

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http://www.enn.com/today.html?id=12018

[Webster Green]

1. Heckuva Job, Ollie!

This guy is a likely candidate for getting appointed to a high position in the chimp administration.

Secretary of the Interior, perhaps..... or maybe Secretary of Commerce.

[hatrack]

2. I was thinking FEMA myself . . . so many agencies to choose from, though!

:eyes:

[Turbineguy]

3. Stuff like this should not be made public

it only provides the Bush Administration with names of likely candidates for important government positions.:sarcasm: