Consultores De Navegacion, a Spanish company that operates the M/T Nautilus, an ocean-going chemical tanker ship, pleaded guilty on April 6 in U.S. District Court in Boston and has agreed to pay a fine of $2.5m for criminal violations related to the overboard discharge of oil-contaminated bilge waste on the high seas, the Justice Department announced. The company pleaded guilty to conspiracy, falsification of records, false statements, obstruction, and two violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships for failing to maintain an accurate oil record book. The practice of improperly handling and disposing of oil-contaminated waste from the tanker as charged in the indictment took place from at least June 2007 until March 2008.