DFO Confirms No Problems With Raw Oysters From Cortes Island

De Clarke/Cortes Currents - There has been a flurry of media stories about the dangers of eating raw oysters lately, but Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) confirmed that there have been no problems with Cortes Island grown oysters. (And there have been no problems anywhere with cooked oysters.) Only one of the 8 emergency closures DF0 listed, in response to Cortes Currents request, is in the Discovery Islands. A DFO notice from December 23 states, “The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has received reports of illness linked to BC Aquaculture Tenure Landfile #1402974” in the Bold Island-Crescent Channel area between Quadra and Read Islands. The other 7 oyster closures pertained to 42 ‘Landfiles’ in the Baynes Sound area across from Denman Island.

Mo Qutob, Communications Advisor with Fisheries & Oceans Canada, emailed that all of the closures he listed were in force as of December 31, 2024.

“The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has received illness reports linked to aquaculture tenures in British Columbia and has recommended emergency closures for certain aquaculture tenures within Pacific Fisheries Management Areas 13 and 14.”

The Crescent Channel tenure mentioned above is in Management Area 13 (Subarea 13-12), and the Baynes Sound closures were in Management Area 14 (Subareas 14-8 and 14-15).

Two of the Landfiles mentioned In DF0’s December 19, 2024, closure notice (#1402293, #1413888), were also in US reports about people being infected with Norovirus after eating ‘raw oysters from British Columbia.’ The associated DFO notice mentions ‘multiple reports of illness’ and lists closures to 13 Landfiles in the Baynes Sound area.

A second closure notice, issued the same day, lists closures to another 18 Landfiles in the Baynes Sound area.

An extensive list of these and subsequent closure notices is at the bottom of this page.

Qutob: “The Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program (CSSP) is a federal food safety program jointly administered by the CFIA, Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and DFO. The goal of the program is to minimize the health risks associated with the consumption of contaminated bivalve molluscan shellfish such as mussels, oysters and clams.”

“As partners in the CSSP, CFIA conducts testing for biotoxins and ECCC conducts water quality sampling. DFO’s role as partner in the CSSP is to enact fishery openings and closures based on recommendations from CFIA and ECCC. Please reach out to those agencies for specific information concerning biotoxins and water quality sampling.”

“DFO’s mandate under the CSSP is to manage shellfish harvest (e.g., to close and open areas, patrol closures) and provide support to illness investigations.”