Qikiqtarjuaq clam fishery almost back in business

KIRSTEN MURPHY

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is expected to re-issue the Qikiqtarjuaq Diving Group, or “QDG,” an experimental fishing licence next month after the federal government withheld the licence in April because of food safety concerns.

No reported cases of food contamination arose from eating the salt-water clams sold only in Nunavut. However, after five years in business, the diving group is being told to follow federal inspection regulations applicable throughout Canada.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency – one of three agencies under the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program – met with officials from the Department of Sustainable Development and Department of Fisheries and Oceans on June 13.

The CFIA has a proposed testing protocol. The protocol means divers will store clams for about a week, while sample mollusks are tested for toxins and bacteria. The nearest CFIA-approved sites are in Quebec and Nova Scotia.

Once the clams are deemed safe for consumption, the divers may sell the popular shellfish to retail businesses such as Northern and Iqaluit Enterprises. The inspection protocol applies to clams sold only in Nunavut. A more comprehensive inspection program is needed if the Qikiqtarjuaq divers export clams outside the territory.

CFIA’s proposed protocol underwent a second reading this week. The diving group will be asked to read and endorse the draft, likely this month. After that, DFO will reissue QDG the harvesting licence once the inspection protocol is approved.

“There are inherent risks with bivalve shellfish because they filter-feed and there’s the potential for them to ingest marine toxins. Our concern is that the clams are safe to consume,” said Stephen J. Stephen, CFIA’s national manager of aquaculture and shellfish in Ottawa.

Where the clams are inspected and who pays for shipping and testing are the biggest hurdles to clear, Stephen said.

“We’re working co-operatively to get this protocol developed but [initiating it] it will depend on finding funding.”

Morris Kuniliusie, QDG’s president, would rather see a test facility built in Nunavut, and ideally, in Qikiqtarjuaq.

Even if the proposed inspection protocol received funding tomorrow, he said diving wouldn’t start again until after break-up in August.

For the past five years, the money from selling bi-valve mollusks has been the main source of income for 10 Qikiqtarjuaq divers.

“We need to feed our families and we do this by harvesting and selling clams,” Kuniliusie wrote in a letter to Uqqumiut MLA David Iqaqrialu on June 12.

DFO’s refusal to re-issue the licence initially angered the divers, some of whom continued diving anyway.

“It was a total setback,” Kuniliusie said, in an interview with Nunatsiaq News.

“The divers want to dive and want to make money. We are in support of testing, but what bothers me is they’re [government agencies are] so slow.”