Max Thaysen and Erik Lyon led a shellfish harvesting workshop in Mansons Lagoon on Thursday January 9, 2024. This was a free event sponsored by the Cortes Island Community Foundation, Decoda Literacy, and the Cortes Island Food Bank. Cortes Currents interviewed Max a few days prior to the workshop.
“ I would love to support people to get more of their food from our local environment in a way that is ecologically sustainable and invited my friend Eric Lyon to join me in presenting the glory of shellfish to anybody who hasn’t yet heard, or felt comfortable accessing this food,”he said.
Audio by De Clarke; Research & text by Roy L Hales;
There has been a flurry of media stories about the dangers of eating raw oysters lately, but Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) confirmed that there have been no problems with Cortes Island grown oysters. (And there have been no problems anywhere with cooked oysters.) Only one of the 8 emergency closures DF0 listed, in response to Cortes Currents request, is in the Discovery Islands. A DFO notice from December 23 states, “The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has received reports of illness linked to BC Aquaculture Tenure Landfile #1402974” in the Bold Island-Crescent Channel area between Quadra and Read Islands. The other 7 oyster closures pertained to 42 ‘Landfiles’ in the Baynes Sound area across from Denman Island.
Mo Qutob, Communications Advisor with Fisheries & Oceans Canada, emailed that all of the closures he listed were in force as of December 31, 2024.
Editor’s note:Someone pointed out this article is too specific for International readers who, for example, may not even know where Vancouver Island is. There is a lack of specific information.I have written Fisheries and Oceans Canada, pointing out: “Most of The articles I see mention Tidal Area 14 (which is the little stretch of Vancouver Island coast between Comox and Parksville), but when I talk to Cortes growers they mention Baynes Sound, which is only a small part of Tidal Area 14. If it is only Baynes Sound, a lot of growers in other parts of Tidal Area 14 are being negatively impacted for something that is not even in their immediate vicinity. At the moment, a lot of Vancouver Island growers appear to be negatively impacted for something that is not in their Tidal Area.“
There was a 10 hour interval during which Erik Lyon of Rising Tide Oysters, on Cortes Island, thought he was going to reap big profits. Dozens of Californians had fallen ill after eating raw oysters from ‘Tidal Area 14’ in British Columbia. That’s on the east coast of Vancouver Island, between Comox and Parksville. Lyon specifically pointed to Baynes Sound, where there are oyster growers that sometimes ship 20,000 dozen oysters in a week. By way of contrast, he described most Cortes Island growers as ‘little mom and pop operations.’
“We’re a little bit removed from Baynes Sound. We tend to have cleaner water and a lot of the buyers can reliably pick up more product from us when the big guys go down,” he explained.
That’s what seemed to be happening on Saturday, December 13, 2024.
By Nora O’Malley, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Tofino, BC – Locked security gates are coming to some of Tofino’s docks, according to the harbour authority’s manager, an inconvenient safety measure that has resulted from liability concerns over float homes at the harbour.
The Fourth Street Dock will remain “fully accessible”, according to the District of Tofino, but a different situation is expected at the Crab Dock, where a dispute has been brewing over people living on a floating home.
More than 70 people reported feeling ill after eating raw oysters at the glitzy LA Times 101 Best Restaurants event earlier this month. Since then there have been similar reports from a number of restaurants in California. S&M Shellfish has issued an urgent recall for product sold as Fanny Bay, Buckley Bay and Royal Miyagi Oysters because of ‘multiple confirmed illnesses due to Norovirus contamination.’
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an advisory against ‘certain oysters’ from BC Tidal Area 14, which is Comox, Denman Island, Hornby Island, and Parksville. There have been no cases reported north of there, or in the Discovery Islands.
