The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) are warning people not to eat the dead or dying herring that have been washing up on the beaches after it was learned some people were consuming them.
From Digby, south to Plympton, Nova Scotia, about 20 kilometers away, residents have been greeted with scores, no, thousands of dead or dying herring and other sea creatures blanketing the shorelines along the bay since the latter part of November, as Digital Journal reported on Wednesday.
Charles Thibodeau, a local resident in Digby, told CBC’s Information Morning that he knows of several people who have been eating the dead or dying herring that have washed up along the beaches. “Some are just barely flippin’ and people are gathering them up and eating the things,” he said.
“I know of two personally,” he added. “I can imagine there’s quite a few because herring is a good fish to eat and these ones on the beach are about seven or eight inches long and they look pretty good for the frying pan.”
But folks need to remember that no one knows what is killing the fish or all the other marine creatures that are washing up dead on the beaches.
The National Post is reporting that Doug Wentzell, regional director of fisheries management for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans had field officers on the beaches in the St. Marys Bay area Wednesday, collecting specimens for additional testing.
As for the initial tests done earlier this month on the herring, Wentzel said, “Based on the testing that we’ve done to date, we haven’t determined any indications of infections or infectious agents. There was also no evidence to indicate toxins are responsible.”
Wentzel added, “We’re seeing multiple species throughout that area. We started to see them late last week… but over the last 48 hours, we’ve been seeing more significant reports.” Does this mean the situation is getting worse? No one knows. But this is all the more reason to not eat any of the dead marine animals.
“Dead or dying herring found on shore should not be collected, consumed or used by the public for any reason, as a variety of factors could affect the food safety of fish, such as toxins, diseases or environmental contaminants,” the CFIA said in a statement.
Adding to the mystery, Jennifer Hope Thibodeau, along with her husband, Charles took some pictures and posted them on her Facebook page December 27, of a dead humpback whale that had washed up on shore near Digby.
According to CBC News, Andrew Reid, response coordinator for the Marine Animal Response Society in Nova Scotia, said the whale is somewhat decomposed, although it hasn’t been dead for too long a time because it doesn’t smell bad. But he adds that a close examination of the carcass is needed to determine what, if anything, killed it.
Reid also said that linking the whale’s death to the marine animal deaths going on would be premature because “we can’t draw a direct conclusion or a link between the two.”
“First we would have to know what’s killing the fish and the lobster and the starfish and also look for a similar cause of death in the whale.” Reid also says the whale was likely a juvenile, recently weaned from its mother, based on its length.
Humpback whales usually migrate to warmer waters to breed and raise their young during the winters. But the whales are a common sight in the summer months in the Bay of Fundy where they come to gorge on the rich and abundant sea life. Residents have occasionally seen a whale wash up on shore in October, but this is December, and that is strange.
“It’s kind of scary since all these things have been washing up on the beach over in St. Marys Bay and other places. It’s really frightening,” said Jennifer Hope Thibodeau.
