Four people – including three Richmond residents – have been fined $750 each after they were caught illegally collecting clams on a Metro Vancouver beach.
Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) officers caught Melinda Leonardo, Jenaly Jarap and Lydia Jarap of Richmond, and Maripaz Josue of Vancouver, collecting the bivalve shellfish at Blackie Spit in the Crescent Beach area on June 17, 2021, said Art Demsky, DFO detachment commander of the conservation and protection branch in Langley.
They were each caught with around 200 clams, said Dempsky, an “egregious” amount given that even in areas where people are allowed to harvest shellfish, they need a license and are limited to five per person.
But all the beach and foreshore areas across the Lower Mainland have been closed to the harvest of shellfish for nearly 50 years for “sanitary and biotoxin reasons,” Dempsky said.
“A lot of untreated sewage goes in the water, a lot of run-off – everything from industrial to agricultural, to residential, chemicals, waste. Everything you think of goes into the water.”
Dempsky explained that bivalve shellfish such as clams, mussels, scallops and oysters, are filter feeders, meaning contaminants in the water – such as toxins and heavy metals – build up inside their tissues over time. This makes the shellfish potentially deadly to anyone who eats them.
He said particular risks include paralytic, diarrhetic and domoic acid (amnesic) shellfish poisoning, as well as vibrio, a common bacterial contaminant.
“That’s why we’re out there to make sure that people aren’t harvesting and consuming, or selling, maybe, to a restaurant, because some people could get very sick or die.”
Younger and older people are more susceptible to shellfish toxins, Dempsky added, and even touching the shellfish can be risky.
“We don’t advise kids to play with the clams, shellfish, because – you know kids, they play with things, and they put their fingers in their mouths. So, they can eat fecal coliforms, E. coli, all kinds of bad stuff on the surface of the clams.”
Digging for clams and other shellfish is an ongoing issue across Metro Vancouver – but one that’s spiked over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’ve seen way more people on the beaches, on the foreshores… people are looking for things to do,” Demspky said.
He said anyone who sees people digging for shellfish in Metro Vancouver are asked to report it to DFO’s 24/7 “Observe, Record, Report line” at 1-800-465-4336 or 604-607-4186, or by email at [email protected].
“It’s very important that people call in because they could be saving someone’s life,” Dempsky said.
These reports can also help DFO get an idea of which areas need more attention from fisheries officers.
