Use Caution When Eating Shellfish This Holiday Week End

QUÉBEC CITY, QUÉBEC--(Marketwire - April 4, 2012) - Easter is often a time when people living in coastal communities on the North Shore and the Gaspé get together for a hearty dinner including molluscan shellfish. This is a tradition that has gone on for generations. However, please be sure that the molluscan shellfish you are eating is safe for consumption. Eating shellfish that is unsafe can lead to serious health problems, including death.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada is launching its 2012 awareness campaign in Quebec to raise public awareness of the health hazards of eating molluscan shellfish harvested from closed areas.

The Department is advising the public that harvesting molluscan shellfish is prohibited in closed areas. Additionally, shellfish harvesting is prohibited within 125 metres of a wharf, due to the risk of contamination.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, with a mandate to protect and conserve fishery resources, is ever vigilant in its efforts to prevent molluscan shellfish harvesting in closed areas in order to protect public health.

The Department is also asking the public to report molluscan shellfish harvesting in closed areas by calling 1-800-463-9057. All calls are anonymous and confidential.

You can get the latest information on shellfish harvesting by calling one of the following numbers:

If you want to get the latest information concerning shellfish harvesting, please dial one of the following phone numbers:

Charlevoix, North Shore and Anticosti Island

• From Ile-aux-Coudres to Baie-Trinité: 1-800-463-8558
• From Baie-Trinité to Blanc-Sablon: 1-800-463-1736

Lower St-Lawrence and Gaspe Peninsula

• From Saint-Roch-des-Aulnaies to Cap Gaspé: 1-800-463-0607
• From Cap Gaspé to the Matapédia River: 1-800-463-4204

Magdalen Islands: 418-986-2095

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