Shellfish Water Quality

Increasing shellfish contamination closures and lack of adequate action and resources on the part of government regulators has resulted in an increasing loss of shellfish harvest and aquaculture opportunities. Maintaining the food safety of harvested shellfish is critical, however blanket closures and clam depuration are not necessarily the only solutions.

The senior associates of the Blue Revolution Consulting Group (BRC) do not believe that closing shellfish growing areas without a plan to address the reason for the closures should be a valid option. Focussed data analysis, stakeholder monitoring and identification of pollution sources can lead to remediation efforts, and other management options such as conditional and seasonal closures.

The members of our consulting group have been successful in addressing water quality issues in a number of areas through an approach of scientific data analysis, government liaison, research investigations, education and development of stakeholder monitoring programs and remediation efforts. In each case, the common theme has involved engaging those affected by harvest closures to understand the basis of the closures, take action to find other management tools or remediation options and negotiate these with government regulators.

In many situations a business case can be made for the costs of engaging professional consultants to examine water quality issues, design and if necessary, implement an appropriate strategy. These costs may be less than the costs of having to depurate clams or the loss of economic opportunities due to closures.

Our Expertise

• Extensive knowledge of national and international science, policy, and regulation of water quality issues.
• Leadership of national programs to develop training and certification in water quality monitoring programs for stakeholders
• Design of stakeholder-based water quality monitoring programs to provide information leading to the successful challenge of classification decisions, refinement of water quality closures (time or area) and identification of areas for possible remediation.
• Experience delivering training programs in water quality monitoring and management for local stakeholders
• Advising industry and First Nation stakeholders on strategies to deal with or improve deteriorating water quality situations
• Established effective and respected liaison with federal agencies (Environment Canada, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Canadian Food Inspection Agency)
• Analysis of Environment Canada water quality data and successful rebuttal and challenges to EC decisions based on that data
• Negotiation with Environment Canada on local, regional and national levels on behalf of clients
• Reporting on water quality data and trends including geographical analysis and establishment of local databases understandable by local stakeholders.
• Bacterial Source Tracking (BST) studies to identify sources of pollution in instances of unexplainable non-point source pollution
• Consultation nationally on senior federal studies to improve delivery of the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program including policy analysis for federal and provincial agencies of water quality issues.
• Experience raising funds from multiple sources for stakeholders to address water quality issues
• In-house association with North Island Labs, the only Environment Canada certified bacteriological laboratory on Vancouver Island
• Water quality and oceanographic monitoring equipment and sampling vessels.

Related Projects: Barkley Clayoquot Water Quality Study

Shoal Island Economic Development Initiative

Shellfish Monitoring Project