Residents demand inquiry after shellfish bags wash ashore

More than 70 black plastic, mesh bags containing dead oysters were recently found littering a Cumberland County beach.

Tom Wood lives near the 91-acre Fox Harbour Provincial Park, bordering the Northumberland Strait, and said the appearance of the bags has been an ongoing problem for years.

“What the big concern boils down to is if there are this many on the shore, how many more are out there loose on the bottom and still in the water?” said Wood.

“It shouldn’t just be cleaned up and said, ‘ That’s fine.’ Where is the inquiry?”

The slotted, black mesh bags are a durable plastic and used in the cultivation and storage of shellfish.

Some of the bags, measuring about 90 by 60 centimetres in size, were buried on the shore in mud, almost out of sight, while others dotted the sandy beach. Some contained dead oysters, and others were stuffed with shells, seaweed or were empty.

Jennifer Gavin, spokeswoman for the Department of Natural Resources, said the owner of the bags, Aquashell Holdings Inc., based in Wallace, removed between 70 and 100 of the bags from the beach last week and no inquiry was planned.

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