East West Seafoods fined USD 208,000 for 19 OSHA violations

Kodiak, Alaska, U.S.A.-based East West Seafoods has been fined more than USD 208,000 (EUR 195,000) by the U.S. Department of Labor for numerous serious violations of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rules pertaining to workplace safety onboard its seafood-processing vessel the F/V Pacific Producer.

The Pacific Producer is a 169-foot-long, 472-ton seafood-processing vessel build in 1946. East West Seafoods Owner Christos Tsabouris purchased the vessel on or before November 2012. The company was issued the citations on 12 January, 2023, and the U.S. Coast Guard simultaneously invalidated the F/V Pacific Producer’s certificate of compliance, making it illegal for the company to operate the ship until it makes repairs that address all the issues cited by OSHA.

OSHA inspectors initiated an inspection of the vessel in July 2022 in Kodiak but were interrupted by the vessel departing the port. The inspection was resumed when the Pacific Producers arrived in Seattle, Washington in October 2022.

“Inspectors found murky, brown water in the ship’s drinking water system; crew members being served expired food; water used to process fish leaking into dry food storage and the galley’s dining area; and other unsanitary conditions throughout the vessel,” the U.S. DOL said in a press release. “In addition, OSHA discovered employees exposed to dangerous electrical hazards throughout the vessel, including damaged and improperly installed electrical equipment, broken outlets and outlets near water, ungrounded extension cords and exposed wiring. Inspectors also found the vessel had no fire suppression system as required, which exposed the crew to fire hazards.”

OSHA Acting Regional Administrator Jack A. Rector said East West Seafoods has a long history of unsafe operations that have exposed its employees to the risk of serious harm. Previous OSHA inspections in 2012, 2014, and 2018 revealed similar problems with sanitation, electrical and fire hazards, “and other dangers related to a lack of lockout/tagout, machine-guarding and fall protections, and a 2018 ammonia leak,” Rector said.

“Alaskan fishing industry workers depend on their employers for vessels that don’t jeopardize their safety and health. For more than a decade, our inspectors have found disgusting and dangerous conditions aboard the F/V Pacific Producer, and the well-being of crews aboard the vessel are at great risk because of its owner’s failures,” Rector said. “This employer’s blatant and continued disregard for crews aboard the F/V Pacific Producer must end before tragedy strikes. The U.S. Department of Labor and its federal partners will use their full enforcement powers to hold East West Seafoods and Christos Tsabouris accountable for their callous neglect and contempt for federal workplace safety standards.”

East West has decided to contest the citations and penalties. Its appeal will be reviewed by the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. Contact information for East West Seafoods or Tsabouris could not be located by SeafoodSource.

In 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice found East West Seafoods intentionally discharged oily bilge water and 1,000 gallons of raw sewage into the ocean within three miles of the Alaskan coast in 2013, and later presented false records to the USCG. A federal court in Alaska sentenced the company and its owner to five years of probation and USD 50,000 (EUR 47,000) in fines. East West Seafoods was also placed on probation for five years, and Tsabouris was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay a USD 10,000 fine (EUR 9,300), according to the Anchorage Daily News.

The vessel ran aground near Kodiak in 2013 but was eventually refloated, according to an Associated Press news report from the time.

East West Seafoods has twice filed for administrative dissolution, according to OpenCorporates, but has undergone reinstatement in 2020 and 2021.

Photo courtesy of MarineTraffic