Washington’s Department of Ecology has slapped the owner of a 38-foot boat with a $279,000 penalty after determining he pumped 123 gallons of red-dye diesel into Bremerton Marina and then tried to cover it up. The agency says Mark Hayes not only failed to report the November 2024 spill but gave investigators false and conflicting statements when they came asking questions.
According to the Tacoma News Tribune, the trouble started on Nov. 19, 2024, when a marina employee told Hayes his vessel, the Nautilus, was listing after heavy rain and high winds. A week later, on Nov. 26, marina staff warned him again — this time that the boat was taking on water. Per Ecology’s account, Hayes arrived at the marina that day and, together with the employee, found water and red-dye diesel nearly filling the Nautilus’s bilge.
The employee gave Hayes information on removing the diesel and contacts for environmental-service companies, according to the same account. Hayes told the worker he would get the spill under control himself, per Ecology, and reportedly asked the employee not to report it. About 90 minutes later, the employee spotted a visible spill near the vessel anyway, as KOMO News reported. The spill itself happened overnight on Nov. 27, 2024.
Investigators Say the Owner Pumped Fuel Straight Into the Marina
Ecology’s investigation drew on interviews, marina video footage and digital records, and the agency concluded that Hayes pumped the vessel’s bilge contents directly into Bremerton Marina overnight, per Ecology. Investigators also determined that Hayes gave false and conflicting statements about when he learned of the spill, the boat’s maintenance history and his own experience operating vessels, according to the same findings.
Crews managed to recover an estimated 90 of the 123 gallons spilled in cleanup work that ran from Nov. 27 to Dec. 5, 2024, per the KOMO report. After Dec. 5, the remaining fuel had thinned out too much to be collected. During that nine-day cleanup window, cormorants and a river otter were seen swimming and hunting in the fuel sheen, the station noted.
Ecology Official Points to Hayes’s Choices Before and After the Spill
David Byers said the elevated penalty reflects more than just the volume of fuel that reached the water. According to the Tacoma News Tribune, Byers said the spill could have been resolved quickly with minimal environmental impact if Hayes had simply taken the correct steps from the start. Byers also said Hayes knew his legal obligations as a vessel owner and chose to disregard them.
Washington state law authorizes enhanced penalties for fuel spills caused by reckless actions, and Ecology determined the size of this penalty reflects Hayes’s reckless conduct both before and after the spill, along with his failure to report it, per the agency’s statement. The breakdown includes nine separate $30,000 fines — one for each day of environmental harm — plus three additional $3,000 fines covering the amount spilled, the failure to report it and the failure to collect and remove the oil, according to KOMO. Ecology has also ordered Hayes to reimburse the state $74,458 in expenses and pay $3,868 for an environmental-damage assessment, the station reported.
How This Penalty Stacks Up Against Other WA Spill Cases
Anna Izenman said penalties this large against private individuals are extremely rare, according to the Tacoma News Tribune. She said most privately owned vessel fines range from a few hundred dollars up to $2,000 or $3,000, with only a small number exceeding $5,000. Izenman said Ecology’s enforcement team weighs how quickly a spill is reported, containment and cleanup efforts, and the responsible party’s cooperation when setting penalties — and stressed that the agency does not want boaters avoiding reports out of fear of punishment.
Other Washington boat-spill cases illustrate how unusual this fine is. Ecology fined Lake Stevens boat owner Ron Barber $70,000 after an oil and gas spill in Steamboat Slough, a branch of the Snohomish River, stemming from his 75-foot fishing vessel Elusive Dream rolling over during a low tide in August 2020, as reported by The Daily Herald; that incident sent an estimated 214 gallons of diesel and lubricating oil into the river. In a separate case covered by the Bellingham Herald, Ecology ordered Michael Johnston, owner of the fishing boat Aleutian Isle, to pay just $18,000 after more than 1,300 gallons of diesel leaked into the Salish Sea, even as the agency separately sought $444,473.05 in response-cost reimbursement from him.
What Happens Next for Hayes
Per Ecology, Hayes has 30 days to pay the penalty or file an appeal. If he does neither, the agency could refer the unpaid penalty to the attorney general’s office for possible legal action. The Environmental Protection Division of the attorney general’s office has also brought criminal charges against Hayes in Kitsap County District Court, according to the Tacoma News Tribune.
The News Tribune reported that it attempted to reach Hayes for comment. Ecology last issued a penalty topping $200,000 in November 2025, when it fined BP and Olympic Pipeline Company, LLC $3,808,500 over a 2023 pipeline spill in Conway, Washington — a penalty of a different scale entirely, but one that underscores how seldom the agency reaches into six figures for any single violator, let alone a private boat owner.
