700 lbs. of shellfish illegally harvested from Pipers Lagoon
NANAIMO — A popular Nanaimo tourist destination was under siege by ecological thieves.
The Department of Fisheries and Oceans says roughly 700 pounds of illegally harvested shellfish were seized from Pipers Lagoon from June 13 to 17, when tides were especially low.
Elysha Gordon, the Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program Coordinator with the DFO, told NanaimoNewsNOW the shellfish pose a serious health risk since they were taken from an area closed for red tide, which is a harmful algae bloom.
“It’s alarming and frustrating. Things like paralytic shellfish poisoning is not something you want to mess around with. It’s not something where you’ll have an upset stomach, vomiting and diarrhea. This…is something that could eventually cause death in extreme cases,” she said.