Autocueillette durable et sécuritaire de moules bleues du Saint-Laurent en collaboration avec les Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk (Québec, Canada)

• Published in: VertigO
• Main Authors: Marie-Claude Lefebvre, Philippe Archambault, Alexandre Truchon-Savard, Guy-Pascal Weiner, Cindy Grant, Rebecca Hennigs, Isadora Desmarais-Lacourse, Mélanie Lemire
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: French
• Published: Éditions en environnement VertigO 2021
• Subjects: blue mussels; Mytilus spp; bivalve; harvesting; sustainable exploitation; shellfish harvest area; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Canada; Lawrence River; Manger; Wolastoqiyik
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.4000/vertigo.30915; https://doaj.org/article/27128772d3f24202a6188ffe12c4bcc4

The members of the Wolastoqiyik Wahsipekuk First Nation based in Cacouna would like to be able to harvest and consume the blue mussels that are abundant on the shores of the St. Lawrence Estuary in their ancestral territory. However, federal laws communicated by Fisheries and Oceans Canada posters prohibit their harvesting. A pilot project was therefore created between the First Nation and the collective Manger notre Saint-Laurent to help them reopen a blue mussel harvesting area in a sustainable and safe manner. The objectives were to identify the issues associated with mussel harvesting in the scientific documentation and to co-develop a decision tree to guide the First Nation in the eventual reopening of a shellfish harvesting area. Depending on the results, mussel harvesting may be compromised by resource conservation and/or safety issues. For harvesting to be sustainable and safe, it is important to validate that the resource is sufficiently abundant and productive (biomass, density, productivity rate) to ensure the sustainability of the resource despite harvesting, to verify the proximity of certain human facilities to reduce the risks of contamination, and to monitor certain contaminants (fecal coliforms, marine biotoxins) to ensure the safety of the harvest. Once these steps have been completed, an area can be opened up for harvesting by communicating regulations and good harvesting practices (minimum pick size, daily quotas, etc.) to contribute to the sustainability of harvesting. When blue mussel harvesting is practiced in a sustainable and safe manner, it brings community members closer to the food resources of the St. Lawrence River (Province of Quebec, Canada).