'Devastating' decline in Bedeque Bay oysters has fishers worried with season set to start
Association's president concerned about tiny number of oysters found during testing
The opening day of the wild oyster fishery on Prince Edward Island is May 1, and people in the industry are worried about what they are going to find after "devastating" results from test runs in Bedeque Bay earlier this month.
Multinuclear sphere X (or MSX) was first detected in Island waters in July 2024. While the parasite is harmless to humans, it is deadly to oysters and can decimate a population.
"We got permission to accompany the province when they tested at Bedeque," said Bob MacLeod, president of the P.E.I. Shellfish Association. "We sent three dories, three directors from the association, and each director took an extra person with them and they were out two and a half or three hours.
"Plus the province was there, with three people in their boat, and the results from that wasn't very good. Between the whole crew of them and the time they spent, in total they found around 30 oysters. It was pretty devastating news, really."
MacLeod said the results are even more troubling because of where the hunt was conducted, in what he called "the heart of the spring fishery forever and ever."
About 70 to 80 fishers would traditionally head out on Bedeque Bay every spring, staying at a campground owned by the Shellfish Association.
"There'd be millions and millions of oysters in Bedeque. That was one of the places you could go and fish over and over and over and over and you could always make a day's pay... there's oysters everywhere. And to send a crew out, with that many dories, with that many people, and come up with 30 oysters — that's just heartbreaking."
MacLeod predicted there will be a trickle-down impact on other rivers across the Island.
Here we have an industry that's been the backbone of the P.E.I. economy for this long, [we're] in the middle of the election, and not one person [is] taking a stand for us.— Bob MacLeod
"You might have rivers with three or four dories — the people who fish at Bedeque are going to go somewhere," he said. "And a lot of those little rivers, you get a week, or two weeks, with only a few dories.
"Now, when you add these other dories, everything's going to get overfished."
MacLeod said the association had been focusing on building up the oyster stocks in Bedeque Bay, even after the discovery of MSX last summer.
"Last year alone, we put 3.7 million oysters in Bedeque and Wilmot, and that will be year-old oysters that would be loonie-size roughly or a little bit bigger," MacLeod.
"They talked about resistant oysters and we figured we put a high enough volume in, and they were saying like 80 per cent would die or 70. But it would still leave enough, like, to throw spat, or survivors, and oysters for the hatcheries and hopefully bring it back someday.
"But after what they found, I don't know."
MacLeod said the 181 members of the shellfish association want more testing, as quickly as possible.
He said the provincial government is producing a map showing the prevalence rates of MSX in rivers and bays around the Island.
We're all independent, we all work for ourselves. A lot of us don't have a lot of education — and try to retrain us? A lot of us is not young.— Bob MacLeod
"I'd like to see all the rivers get tested now," MacLeod said.
"When they tested last year, they were testing for MSX. Right now, I'd like to see testing just looking for survivors and I'd like to see it done daily, so we kind of got a direction to give the fisherman, where to go or not go, to help them out so they're not wasting their gas going to some place that looks like Bedeque."
MacLeod said some of the wild oyster fishers are deciding not to go out this season, taking jobs in the lobster fishery, for example.
"But it's not that easy. Some of us got 40-plus years invested in this," he said. "We're all independent, we all work for ourselves. A lot of us don't have a lot of education — and try to retrain us? A lot of us is not young. It's hard to do, to walk away. It's their life, it's their livelihood."
MacLeod thinks the province should get going on building hatcheries to raise MSX-resistant stock, something he says should have already started.
"The longer we wait, the more oysters are dying. It's going to be harder to get the stock, brood stock we need for the hatchery," he said.
"Really and truly, the government's dragging their feet. We're in the middle of a federal election, and you know, the spinoffs from the whole oyster industry on P.E.I. is about $100 million. I have yet to hear candidate take a stand, if they're elected, what they're going to do for us...
"I'm sure if Cavendish Farms shut down tomorrow, it'd be all over the news what they're doing for them," he added. "Car plants in Ontario closed down; they were all over that. And here we have an industry that's been the backbone of the P.E.I. economy for this long, [we're] in the middle of the election, and not one person [is] taking a stand for us."
'Challenging for processors'
The executive director for the Prince Edward Island Seafood Processors Association said the testing results are also bad news for some of his members, who purchase oysters from public leases.
Bob Creed said that at this point, the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans has not issued any permits for purchasing oysters from Bedeque Bay.
I think all members of the industry, whether they be fishers or processor-buyers, are looking for current and updated information... Something that happened last July is very little indicator of what's there right now.— Bob Creed
"If there is large mortalities found in Bedeque Bay when the season opens, if fishers are allowed to fish there, then that will certainly make it very challenging for processors — for buyers, if you will — to purchase oysters from that area," Creed said.
"There will be a risk associated with those oysters, of course... Each company will make their own decisions based on conversations with their particular fishers."
Creed said members of his association are also calling for testing to continue.
"I think all members of the industry, whether they be fishers or processor-buyers, are looking for current and updated information," he said.
"Something that happened last July is very little indicator of what's there right now. So the industry is looking for more recent and current sampling efforts to indicate the presence of MSX, or the prevalence of MSX."
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