A 2020 sewage contamination incident that led to the deaths of over 130,000 fry and juvenile fish in the Derwent Valley has resulted in fines for a Tasmanian company.
Jenkins Hire appeared in the Hobart Magistrates Court last week for several environmental offences, including causing significant environmental harm, over the discharge of liquid controlled waste into the Plenty River in September 2020.
The wastewater spill caused approximately 120,000 brown trout fry and 13,000 rainbow trout fry fish to die at the historic Salmon Ponds downstream.
The court heard how the spill occurred due to a combination of the commercial operator receiving more liquid waste than authorised and failing to have an adequate management system in place to handle the waste.
Both Jenkins Hire and Tim Jenkins were fined a total of $45,000 and required to pay the Inland Fisheries Service $14,711 as compensation for the dead fish.
The Environment Protection Authority’s Director Wes Ford said the spill was “entirely preventable”.
“I welcome the level of fines … they reflect the serious nature of the discharge of the liquid controlled waste and its impact on the Plenty River, the downstream ecosystem and the direct impact on the operations of the Inland Fisheries Service at Salmon Ponds,” he said.
“There is no excuse for this type of pollution incident.”
