Thank you for the question. The issue you raise is a very specific one. Science can answer that, but here's my understanding of it.
There were no waste water treatment plants 35 years ago, and waste water went straight into the ocean. Right now, along the entire coastline of Chaleur Bay, across 12 municipalities, including Carleton‑sur‑Mer, Saint‑Omer, Nouvelle, Maria, Bonaventure, New Richmond, New Carlisle and Paspébiac, only one doesn't have a treatment facility.
All the others have treatment facilities that process human effluent. People say we're polluted, but we've been cleaning up the system for 35 years. The problem is, when it comes time to test the water, the funding from Fisheries and Oceans Canada isn't there. That's the problem. We need to take samples and analyze them to see if things are in order or not.
In fact, the Comité ZIP did that in 2007, 2008 and 2009. The recommendation was to set up a working committee to oversee the opening of the shellfish zone, but that never happened.