P.E.I. oyster business already feeling effects of Bedeque Bay closure
CBC
The owner of Future Seafoods in Fernwood, P.E.I., is worried he'll have to shut down his plant and lay off employees if he can no longer ship oysters from Bedeque Bay.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada, or DFO, closed the bay to shellfish harvesting because of a large rainfall in June, and the area has remained closed since the discovery of the parasite MSX in wild oysters from the Bedeque area.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says MSX is not harmful to humans, and the oysters are safe to eat.
But Erskine Lewis of Future Seafoods still can't ship oysters to his wholesalers in Montreal, Ottawa and Boston.
"We're still closed down here and we really don't understand why…. Our food inspection agency cleared this area to be able to ship out of, and DFO has not released it to be shipped out of, so I don't have a reason why they haven't."
CBC News reached out to officials with both the CFIA and the federal fisheries department on Wednesday but did not receive a response.
In a previous interview, a CFIA official said they were testing oysters in other waters to see if the parasite has spread beyond Bedeque Bay.
Lewis believes it has, based on the crates of dead oysters he has in his plant that came from other harvesting areas around the Island.
"I'm fearful of MSX in another location, but we aren't sure," he said, noting that oysters can die from other, less serious causes.
This is the first time MSX has been detected in P.E.I. waters, and there's a lot that is still not known about it. The parasite wiped out entire oyster stocks in parts of the United States in the 1950s but had never been spotted north of Maine until it was detected in Cape Breton in 2002. It has negatively affected that part of the Nova Scotia fishery for 20 years.
Kim Gill, acting director of aquaculture for P.E.I., said the prospect of MSX arriving on the Island has been a concern ever since it was detected in Cape Breton.
"We've been aware of it, and very worried about it since 2002... Was it an environmental change, was it something in the oysters that triggered it? We really have no idea when it comes to why it actually showed up right now."
P.E.I. Fisheries Minister Cory Deagle said the province is prepared to provide financial help if needed.
"I just want everyone to know that we will be there to support the fishers and the growers and the processors. There is probably a short term and a long term of what this is going to look like. We're still assessing."
