PROJECTS

SHELLFISH MONITORING PROJECT

With increased growth in the aquaculture sector and decreases in government funding for monitoring and classification programs under the CSSP in the 1990's, government agencies delivering the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program have met increasing service demands of the fast growing shellfish aquaculture industry.

The Canadian shellfish aquaculture industry is actively involved in investigatory projects to address shellfish safety and water quality concerns and improve communications with industry and regulators. The core of these initiatives has been the Shellfish Monitoring Project, a joint initiative of the Canadian aquaculture industry and the federal agencies which deliver the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program that is focused on advancing the quality assurance of farmed shellfish. The coordination of projects will help growers better protect and promote the quality and safety of their products.

This series of projects was funded by the Office of the Commissioner for Aquaculture Development (OCAD) and conducted a series of pilot projects to test and address potential changes to the manner in which shellfish monitoring programs (growing water quality and marine biotoxins) are administered. This initiative was led by the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance (CAIA) with participation from Environment Canada (EC), Fisheries and Oceans Canada (FOC) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), as well as provincial shellfish aquaculture industry associations.

The Shellfish Monitoring Project was designed to be carried out in four phases. In the Spring of 1999, OCAD, the CFIA, EC, FOC, and CAIA contracted Phase I to clearly identify the issues and to reach consensus on priority projects that would enable an increase in service levels and offset costs related to the shellfish monitoring programs. A number of individual projects were decided on and were be included in a review of the current shellfish programming services. These projects have been identified through consultations involving the aquaculture industry and government agencies and a national consultation workshop held in September 1999. In Phase II of the Shellfish Monitoring Project, detailed workplans, timelines, and budgets for seven priority projects were identified.

Our team led the project technical team for the work in Phase II and III of the project which was primarily focused on developing farm based HACCP systems for shellfish farmers and developing methodologies to involve shellfish aquaculture stakeholders in water quality monitoring efforts relating to growing area classification.

Additional projects which were led by our team included research into comparative commercial species uptake and depuration of marine biotoxins, the development of a communications project, and research into improving communications methodologies between regulatory and industrial sectors within the Canadian shellfish culture industry.

Phase III of the Shellfish Monitoring Project has been completed.

For more information, please contact Brian Kingzett.