Ask a fishery officer about safe shellfish harvesting practices
Fishery officers in Southwest New Brunswick explain how and where to harvest shellfish safely.
Transcript
Hi, I'm Jason Lomax, and we're here in St Andrews, New Brunswick, this morning,
[Aerial view of a fishery officer truck driving along a coastline.]
and we're just doing a clam patrol to make sure everyone's harvesting everything safely and legally.
[Music plays over a DFO Fishery officer montage.]
Ask a fishery officer – Safe shellfish harvesting
[Enactment of a shellfish harvester digging in wet sand. Using a rake, they pick up clams and place them in a bucket.]
Ensuring clams are harvested safely keeps people healthy and keeps the economy going in our local area.
[Fishery officers walk up to the harvester who is digging.]
Having a safe, regulated industry here is very important to keeping the borders open to our shipments of seafood across the border.
[Fishery officers speaking to the harvester about shellfish harvesting regulations).]
A lot of employment depends on it.
[Aerial view of harvester digging for shellfish with their rake.]
In the summer in this area, we can expect 50 to 60 commercial diggers, along with maybe 100 recreational diggers
[Side view of the same harvester digging.]
that just flock to this area in the summertime as tourists wanting to just try it and get a feed for themselves.
We come down and make sure that they're staying within their limits.
[Fishery officer inspects clam size with a gauge.]
Commercial harvesters are allowed any amount, but we still have to monitor size for both commercial and recreational diggers.
[Fishery officers speak to the harvester.]
Our partners at Environment Canada and Canadian Food Inspection Agency test the clam meat and the water quality and let us know whether the toxicity in the water is coming up or down.
[Fishery officer attaches a danger sign to a pole.]
We close and open beaches according to those levels, and these patrols keep things legal and safe.
If you suspect someone is fishing illegally, please call 1-800-222-TIPS (1-800-222-8477).
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