Pacific Seafood announces temporary closure of Westport facility

Published 1:30 am Friday, March 13, 2026

During the public comment period of the March 9 Westport City Council meeting, the director of Environmental Health and Safety for Pacific Seafood, Amy Wentworth, announced the temporary closure of its Westport facility.

“We have had to close temporarily. This is due to an ongoing dispute that we’ve had with the Department of Ecology regarding our wastewater permits,” Wentworth said. “We are closing for the 2026 shrimp season. It’s a necessary pause to complete some major engineering upgrades we think will give our plant the best chance of operating legally and sustainably in the future. Absolutely do not want the plant to close for the shrimp season and we understand that this will be a significant economic impact to Westport. We are estimating $20 million to $25 million locally. We’re doing all that we can to re-open as soon as possible.”

Wentworth went on to say that personnel, nomenclature and definition changes at the Department of Ecology in recent years led to the current situation, and that it is illegal for the plant to operate while Pacific Seafood’s current water quality permit application is pending. The public comment period for the permit application, which will allow Pacific Seafood to send (discharge) treated wastewater to Half Moon Bay, ends on Wednesday, March 18.

The Department of Ecology regulates “wastewater released from municipalities and industries using the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Wastewater Discharge Permit. This permit regulates wastewater that goes directly into lakes, rivers, Puget Sound, or the ocean (surface water). All wastewater must be treated and meet the applicable water quality standards before it goes into surface water to protect human health and aquatic life.”

The closure of the Westport facility, however temporary, will have a significant economic impact on the city of Westport.

“We’re investing just shy of $3 million to comprehensively upgrade our shrimp processing plants. We’ve brought in specialists from Iceland to help us with that,” Wentworth said. “We’re retaining as many workers as we can, we have had to lay off about 48 people, we’re shifting some into other plants.”

Westport Mayor Ed Welter says he is very concerned about the loss of jobs and the economic impact the closure will have on the city.

“I am very concerned about the closure of this plant, and what it means to our community and the loss of jobs,” Welter said. “The city plans to do everything it can to work with its producers and the Department of Ecology to ensure continued production, the prosperity of the city of Westport and the cleanliness of our waters.”

In June of 2024, the Washington Department of Ecology issued a $222,000 penalty to the Pacific Seafood-Westport facility for repeatedly sending polluted wastewater into Half Moon Bay in Westport. Over the past two years, the facility violated its water quality permit 58 times.

The Department of Ecology said at the time, “while they are allowed to discharge wastewater under their permit, the facility has violated every pollution limit in their permit. This means they are polluting Half Moon Bay with water that is too acidic, has too much bacteria, and contains too much oil and grease.”

Public comment on Pacific Seafood’s permit application can be submitted by email to gayle.garbush@ecy.wa.gov or by postal mail:

Gayle Garbush

Southwest Region Office – WQ

PO Box 47775

Olympia, WA 98504-7775