A jury in a U.S. District Court in Seattle just found Randall Fox, former captain of the fishing vessel Native Sun (above), guilty of discharging oily waste into the ocean. He now faces a maximum of six years in prison and a criminal fine of $250,000. Last year his father, Bingham Fox, the former owner of Native Sun, was convicted of similar crimes.
The original indictment said that Bingham Fox ordered the crew to discharge oil and other bilge waste overboard in the harbor and adjoining shoreline of Blaine, Washington, which is on the Strait of George just south of the Canadian border. The boat had a history of mechanical problems that caused a large amount of oil to gather in the bilge. Bingham Fox installed at least one illegal pump to dump waste directly overboard from the bilge, even in port. A crewmember took a video of one discharge, and reported the problem to authorities.
Bingham Fox’s son Randall was then a crewmember and later the captain of the boat. Randall Fox was charged with ordering the crew to discharge oil overboard while the boat was underway on fishing trips.
In the Randall Fox trial, the jury deliberated just five hours before reaching the guilty verdict. Read more:
https://www.courthousenews.com/fishing-boat-owner-convicted-ocean-dumping/
