Charlottetown Harbour closed to shellfishing

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has closed Charlottetown Harbour and parts of the North, West and Hillsborough rivers to shellfish harvesting due to contamination.

An overflow at the Charlottetown waste water treatment plant caused contamination.

The waste water treatment plant has overflowed several times in the past causing similar problems.

Oyster fisherman are upset because their season opens on Monday.

"Well what it means to me is my living and they went and shut it all down," said fisherman Stan Casey. "My living and plus there is about 100 of us oyster fishermen that fish out here. And everybody, they can't go fishing Monday. Our first couple of weeks is our biggest weeks at the oyster fishery."

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency usually recommends to the DFO if bodies of water need to be closed.

DFO is monitoring the situation and will notify fishermen when the area can re-open to shellfish harvesting.