A recent norovirus outbreak has taken its toll on the B.C. shellfish industry, but not for reasons one might think.
According to Darlene Winterburn, executive director for B.C. Shellfish Growers’ Association, multiple farms across the province are down 50 per cent in sales due to loss of reputation, regardless of the fact that the illness only came from oysters farmed in central and south Baynes Sound.
“The reason its impacting all of B.C. is because all of the notices and media reports around the disease were very broad sweeping,” Winterburn explained. “They said ‘don’t touch B.C. oysters,’ when the fact of the matter is, that business remains as usual across the province. The illness was in a very tight geographical area.”
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