The town of St. Mary's, Newfoundland, has been grappling with a decades-long stench emanating from 110 towering vats of fermenting fish sauce left behind by the now-defunct Atlantic Seafood Sauce Company. The situation has become a public health hazard, with the abandoned building posing a risk to the town's residents, especially after a storm damaged it in January. The town's mayor, Steve Ryan, has been pushing for a solution, and finally, relief is in sight. The federal and provincial governments have agreed to foot the bill for the cleanup, with the waste set to be transported to a landfill about 160 kilometers away in Sunnyside. The cleanup process will be a complex one, involving the removal of both liquid and solid material, mixing it with peat moss to solidify it, and then sealing and burying it underground in enormous landfill cells. The project is expected to cost over $1.74 million, with the government of Newfoundland and Labrador providing the funds. The fish sauce plant's story began with a celebrated idea in the 1990s, when the Canadian government funded the business, hoping to create local employment and use male capelin fish, which were typically discarded, to make fish sauce. However, the venture failed due to a lack of understanding of the fermentation process, and the plant closed in 2001 after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency found problems with the vats' covers, leading to a public health crisis. The town's mayor, Ryan, sees the plant's demise as a symbol of the need for economic opportunity in small towns. The cleanup process is expected to be highly odorous, but the town of Sunnyside is ready to welcome the waste, with the funds going toward municipal building renovations and emergency funds. The residents of St. Mary's are eagerly awaiting the day when the last load leaves town, and they plan to celebrate the end of this stinky chapter in their history.
