Tank vessel operator Sea World Management & Trading, Inc. and Captain Edmon Fajardo were sentenced for maintaining false and incomplete records relating to the discharge of oil and garbage from an oil tanker that was operating off the coast of Texas, according to the US Department of Justice.
The defendants pleaded guilty to two felony violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, 33 U.S.C. § 1908(a), for failing to accurately maintain the Sea Faith’s Oil Record Book and Garbage Record Book.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, the company will pay a total fine of $2.25 million and serve a 3-year term of probation during which all vessels operated by the company and calling on US ports will be required to implement a robust Environmental Compliance Plan. Capt. Fajardo, master of the tank vessel Sea Faith, was sentenced to six months incarceration to be followed by two years supervised release and a $2,000 fine.
Both admitted that oil cargo residues and machinery space bilge water were illegally dumped from the Sea Faith directly into the ocean while the vessel was transiting to Corpus Christi, TX, without the use of required pollution prevention equipment. They also admitted that these discharges were not recorded in the vessel’s Oil Record Book as required.
Specifically, on five different occasions between 10-18 March 2017, Fajardo ordered crew members to illegally discharge oily waste from various locations of the vessel’s cargo/deck spaces. These oily waste discharges bypassed the use of the vessel’s required oil discharge monitoring equipment and were done while the vessel was in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.
Sea World Management & Trading, Inc. and Fajardo further admitted that on 10 and 15 March 2017, Fajardo ordered crew members to throw plastics, empty steel drums, oily rags, batteries, and empty paint cans directly overboard into the ocean. None of these garbage discharges were recorded as required in the vessel’s Garbage Record Book.
The cases were investigated by the USCG Sector Corpus Christi, USCG Investigative Service, and EPA-Criminal Investigation Division.
