P.E.I. minister says CFIA taking the lead on dermo, oyster disease newly found in New Brunswick

P.E.I.'s minister of fisheries says the Maritime oyster industry has sustained another blow after evidence of a new disease was recently found in oysters from Spence Cove, about five kilometres west of the Confederation Bridge in New Brunswick.

The New Brunswick case is thought to be the first detection in Canadian waters of dermo, caused by a parasite called Perkinsus marinus. It does not pose a risk to human health or food safety, but increases oyster mortality and decreases its growth rates.

P.E.I. Fisheries Minister Zack Bell said the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is taking the lead in handling the search for other locations with dermo.  

"It's unfortunately another blow to the industry. The industry has been kind of in that uncertain phase, you know, since the summer when the MSX was found," Bell said.

MSX, short for multinucleate sphere unknown, was first detected in samples taken from P.E.I.'s Bedeque Bay in July, with additional positive test results from other areas coming in over the summer and fall. 

Like dermo, it affects only oysters and not humans eating oysters from waters known to have MSX. 

Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the province of New Brunswick are working with the CFIA to monitor the dermo situation, the federal government said in a Nov. 21 news release.

"Dermo is a newer thing and [there are] a lot of unknowns, unfortunately. Thankfully, you know... we can at least now try to find out as much as we can through CFIA," Bell said. "Everybody wants to help out everybody because again, we know how important this industry is."

Dermo has previously been detected in Atlantic waters between Mexico and Maine. 

The CFIA says the parasite that causes it is easily transmitted among oysters, mostly when they are between one and three years of age. 

"Mortality rates are variable but are typically 50 per cent to 75 per cent," the agency says in a factsheet on its website.