(Courtesy GPAI)

American Seafoods has agreed to pay out $700,000 in penalties to the federal government over Clean Air Act violations.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the company was caught smuggling 155,000 pounds of a refrigerant that causes harm to the ozone layer. The EPA also alleges that American Seafoods catcher-processors used these illegal refrigerants for four years.

In addition to payment of the fines, American Seafoods has agreed to retrofit the refrigeration systems on five vessels the process fish in the Bering Sea. The upgrades to the Northern Jaeger, the Ocean Rover, the American Triumph, the American Dynasty, and the Katie Ann will cost up to $15 million. The company will also be performing leak tests aboard these vessels over the next year.

American Seafoods attorney Matthew Latimer could not be reached by phone for comment on Friday afternoon, but he said a press release that the company is already making efforts to reduce its environmental footprint.

American Seafoods is one of biggest players in the pollock fishery, harvesting over 400 million pounds of the fish in 2011.