ST. JOHN’S – Two levels of government are at odds over an abandoned rural Newfoundland fish sauce plant, whose fetid stench has plagued nearby residents for decades.
Newfoundland and Labrador Environment Minister Chris Tibbs says his government is working to have the site in St. Mary’s, N.L., cleaned up, but he says the Canadian government should take some responsibility.
Tibbs says Paul Connors, the Liberal member of Parliament for the region, said earlier this week there will be federal funds to help out.
But Connors said in an interview that the problem is provincial.
Connors says he is looking for federal money, but there is currently no program or designated pot of cash he can tap.
The Atlantic Seafood Sauce Company factory opened in 1990. The owners abandoned it about a decade later after legal and regulatory battles.
High winds blew off part of the building’s ocean-facing wall last week, exposing more than 100 vats of long-fermenting fish sauce.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 22, 2026.
