The residents of St. Mary’s in British Columbia, Canada, can finally breathe a sigh of relief. That’s because they’re finally getting rid of the foul smell of rotten fish that has wafted over their tiny community for years. The culprit is 110 tanks of fermented fish sauce that the Atlantic Seafood Sauce Company abandoned more than 20 years ago. The building was left to deteriorate — windows got broken, the roof blew off, and a January storm knocked out a wall. That sauce, however, kept on fermenting as the bacteria did their job, and when the wind blew just right, the entire town could smell it. Mayor Steve Ryan said the smell is hard to describe, but likened it to “the worst rotted fish you ever smelled in your lifetime, times 100.” Over the next few months, workers will drain the vats of fluid and mix it with peat moss, which will absorb the liquid. Trucks with giant hoses will then suck up the material and transport it to a pit lined with high-density polyethylene used in landfills. At the end, the pit will be covered with topsoil. Ryan said the project has cost the town $1.21 million.
