The Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) Pacific Region Bivalve Traceability Initiative (BTI) was struck in May 2019, in response to growing concerns related to illegal and non-compliant harvest and lack of traceability of bivalve shellfish product in British Columbia, which threatened the integrity food safety system. Maintaining traceability (or control of harvest) is a core responsibility for DFO under the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program (CSSP) and an important element in proper management of a fishery. The BTI was co-led by DFO Fisheries Management (wild Resource Management and Aquaculture Management Division) and Conservation and Protection staff, with support of National Headquarters colleagues. A senior management committee, led by the Regional Director General Pacific Region with participation of the BC Government, Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, was also struck to explore options to collaboratively tackle these issues.
Actions conducted under the Bivalve Traceability Initiative have focused on:
Over the past three years, DFO resource managers (wild and aquaculture) and fishery officers actively conducted ongoing compliance promotion activities with licence holders and stakeholders. Administrative condition of licence verification, patrols, and inspections were conducted on both the aquaculture and commercial fisheries, focusing on the key elements of traceability (tagging, record keeping, reporting, etc.). Regulatory changes were made to address traceability gaps in the shellfish aquaculture, wild commercial clam, and wild commercial oyster fisheries and communications tools were developed and employed to increase licence holder awareness of traceability requirements.
This presentation will give an overview of the last three years of the Bivalve Traceability Initiative, as it pertains to shellfish aquaculture management, including: its successes and opportunities, key findings, and recommendations for moving forward.