The largest player in northern Alberta's oilsands development was hit with $3 million in fines Friday for the deaths of hundreds of ducks in a tailings pond at its oilsands mine.

Syncrude Canada was found guilty in June of violating provincial and federal wildlife laws when it failed to prevent the birds from landing in its waste pond, which was filled with toxic runoff from the nearby mine.

An estimated 1,600 birds died and images of the tar-coated ducks were distributed around the world and became a rallying point for critics of the massive oilsands project.

Judge Ken Tjosveld agreed Friday to the hefty penalty, which was suggested in a joint sentencing submission from the company and Crown lawyers.

The penalty consists of a $500,000 provincial fine and a $300,000 federal levy, the maximum allowed under wildlife protection laws. Another $1.3 million will fund research on how better to keep birds away from oilsands operations in future, while $900,000 will go toward habitat restoration.

The fines amount to nearly $1,900 for each of the ducks believed to have died, but Greenpeace spokesman Mike Hudema said it should have been even higher.

"A $3-million fine to a muti-billion dollar company that has violated the law amounts to no more than a slap on the wrist and does not send a strong message to the rest of the industry," he told The Canadian Press.

Still, Hudema called the court's actions "steps in the right direction."

The company maintained throughout the trial that it had done nothing illegal, but Tjosveld ruled that Syncrude did not do enough to discourage ducks from landing on its 12-kilometre long waste-water pond, which contain a poisonous brew of water, clay, leftover bitumen and heavy metals.

Oilsands companies are obliged to take measures to keep migratory birds away from their waste-water ponds, such as noise cannons and scarecrows.

But the judge found that Syncrude's bird deterrent team was understaffed and ill-equipped to place the cannons around and on the tailings pond.

When a major spring storm in 2008 dumped almost 40 centimetres of snow in the area, the ducks had no water to land on except the tailings pond.

Hundreds of birds died because they could not escape the thick black goo on top of the Syncrude pond. They drowned or were eaten alive by ravens or other predators.

Syncrude lawyers argued during the trial that the late snowstorm caught the company off-guard, but court heard that they were two weeks behind in setting up air cannons and scarecrows meant to drive the ducks away.

The judge also noted that other oilsands companies had bird-deterrent systems operating even before Syncrude called in its seasonal bird and ecology team.

"It should have been obvious to Syncrude that deterrence should have been in place in the spring as soon as reasonably possible," Tjosvold said in his ruling. "Syncrude did not deploy deterrence early enough or quickly enough."

Syncrude says it has taken steps to minimize the chance of something similar happening again and has deterrence teams operating all year round.

The oil company has until Nov. 1 to pay the $800,000 fine.

The remainder of the penalty includes a research program, a conservation program and a collaboration with a local college to pay for an environmental diploma program.

Part of the money will be used to buy wetlands east of Edmonton to be managed by conservation groups.