P.E.I.'s oyster industry will need to learn to 'live with MSX,' says fisheries minister

P.E.I. oyster fishers, growers and processors have been faced with the presence of a parasite known as MSX for about three weeks now.

But if the history of multinuclear sphere X in other regions is any indicator, this is only the beginning of a long, uphill battle with the disease that can kill up to 95 per cent of the oysters it infects.

"It's devastating news to have this organism in our waters and P.E.I.," said Cory Deagle, the province's fisheries minister.

As of July 24, there are four waterways on the Island designated as primary control zones, where the presence of the pathogen has been confirmed: 

• Boughton River in eastern P.E.I.;
• New London Bay/Stanley Bridge in Queens County;
• Birds Island to Black Banks, which extends along the North Shore from roughly Lennox Island to the mouth of Cascumpec Bay; and
• Bedeque Bay, where MSX was first detected in the province on July 11.

Oysters can only be moved in or out of primary control zones with a permit from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.

"Additional sites outside the ones mentioned above have been placed under quarantine as a temporary measure as part of CFIA's tracing activities," the agency said in an email Wednesday evening.

'It's not going anywhere'

Deagle said he's "very concerned" about the presence of MSX, especially given how detrimental it's been for oyster fisheries in other regions.

"It's very early stages," Deagle said. "Our focus right now is on working with CFIA as they test and look at other areas to see if this is spread [and] to contain it."

The oyster industry in the Bras d'Or Lake area of Cape Breton has never fully recovered since MSX was discovered there in 2002.

The parasite hit Chesapeake Bay in the northeast U.S. in 1959, forcing many local fishers to harvest to clams instead.

"Our next steps have to be how can we move forward from here, and I guess you could say live with MSX, because it's not going anywhere, unfortunately," Deagle said.

"Once it's here, it's here."

Province promises support will come

Deagle said his staff are in frequent talks with both the CFIA and Fisheries and Oceans Canada, trying to get updates to those who need them — but he acknowledged that communication could always be improved.

"Some of the conversations we've had the last couple of days with industry is how can we communicate better, get that information out to the people on the ground, the fishers, the growers, the processors," Deagle said.

Some harvesters have been calling for the provincial and federal governments to financially support the industry.

Deagle said that help will come, but not immediately.

"I've told each one of them as I meet with them that the province will be there to support them financially," he said. "We just don't know what that looks like yet."

He said part of that process is figuring out what form of help would best suit the industry, and when it will come.

"I think the industry also, they're saying they don't know what it looks like yet either, right? Because we don't know what the impacts are," Deagle said.

"I don't want them to think that they've been abandoned or anything like that. We'll do whatever we can in our power to help them."