(CN) - The owner and captain of a commercial fishing vessel have been indicted on charges they dumped oil and bilge wastes into the Pacific Ocean off the Washington state coast, the Justice Department said Thursday.
According to the indictment, father and son Bingham and Randall Fox dumped and ordered their crew members to dump oil and bilge wastes from their commercial fishing vessel Native Son into U.S. waters near Blaine, Washington, as well as on the open ocean where they operated.
The scheme went on from 2011 until 2013, the indictment says.
Both men have been indicted on charges of conspiracy and violations of the Clean Water Act and Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. The maximum penalty for violating the Clean Water Act is three years in prison and a $250,000 on each count, and knowing violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships can lead to up to six years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Prosecutors say ship owner Bingham Fox ordered crew members to dump oil and bilge wastes during dockside maintenance, polluting the harbor and shoreline near Blaine. Randall Fox - who was a crew member and later captain of the vessel - ordered the dumping on the open ocean during fishing trips, the indictment says.
The Native Sun had neither a Clean Water Act permit to dump waste nor oil-water separation equipment onboard as required by federal law, the Justice Department said.
Both men have been summonsed to appear in Seattle Federal Court on April 14, the Justice Department said.
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