Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program (CSSP)

Harvest Site Information

Roles and Responsibilities

The Fish, Seafood and Production Division, Canadian Food Inspection Agency:

• regulates the import and export, processing, packaging, labelling, shipping, certification, storage, repacking of shellfish to protect against contamination and product quality degradation, to maintain source and lot identity and integrity;
• suspends operations or decertifies shellfish processors on the basis of unacceptable operating and sanitation conditions;
• regulates the depuration (i.e., controlled purification) of shellstock, verifies product quality and purification effectiveness, maintains production and product quality records;
• evaluates laboratories performing shellfish analyses in accordance with the requirements of the CSSP and maintains a biotoxin surveillance program of shellfish growing areas in support of DFO and CFIA activities;

Environment Canada:

• classifies all actual and potential shellfish growing areas as to their suitability for shellfish harvesting on the basis of sanitary quality and public health safety.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Fisheries Management:

• controls the harvesting of shellfish from areas which are classified as contaminated or otherwise closed;
• patrols growing areas, apprehends and prosecutes persons violating restrictions;
• regulates and supervises relaying, transplanting and replanting;
• restricts harvesting of shellfish from actual and potentially affected growing areas in a public health emergency;
• regulates licenses, harvesting locations and times and minimum harvest sizes for stock management purposes.

Harvest Site Information

• British Columbia
  • 1-866-431-3474
• New Brunswick
  • 1-506-851-6227
• Prince Edward Island
  • 1-506-851-6227
• Quebec
  • From St. Paul Bay to Trinité Bay: 1-800-463-8558
  • From Trinité Bay to Natashquan: 1-800-463-1736
  • From St. Roch des Aulmaies to Cape Gaspé: 1-800-463-0607
  • From Cape Gaspé to the Matapédia River: 1-800-463-4204
  • Magdalen Islands: 1-418-986-2095
  • Quebec: 1-418-648-5888

Reference Material - Consumers

• Consumer awareness and perceptions of shellfish consumption and recreational harvesting
• Fish and Seafood Fact Sheets

Reference Material - Industry

• Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program - Manual of Operations
• French Bivalve Mollusc Shippers
• Governments of Canada and Prince Edward Island support international conference on shellfish safety in Charlottetown
• Importing Live and Raw Shellfish
• Industry Notice: Enhanced CSSP Requirements: Wastewater Treatment Plant Impacts
• List of Canadian Establishments and Harvest Areas Approved to Export Bivalve Molluscs, Echinoderms, Tunicates and Marine Gastropods to the European Union

Related Sites

• Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Shellfish Monitoring Network - Gulf Region
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Shellfish and invertebrates in the Pacific Region
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada - Recreational Fishing in the Pacific Region
• Food and Drug Administration - National Shellfish Sanitation Program
• Food and Drug Administration - Shellfish Shipper's List
• Water Quality Monitoring