An emergency shellfish closure ordered for the Halfmoon Bay area is expected to be short-lived, officials said Friday.
The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) ordered the closure April 4 after a break was discovered in the outfall pipe from a community wastewater system in Halfmoon Bay.
The closure covers the waters and foreshore within a 3,000-metre radius of the outfall, but most of the area is already closed to bivalve shellfish harvesting, DFO fisheries officer Robert Kaatz said.
Smuggler Cove and Welcome Beach are the two locations most affected by the closure, Kaatz said, adding that neither site is a highly active harvesting area.
DFO ordered the closure as a precautionary measure while Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) infrastructure services staff carried out repairs to the damaged outfall.
SCRD utility services manager Dave Crosby said he expected repairs would be completed by the end of the day Friday.
An observant resident had first spotted the cracked pipe and reported it to the SCRD's infrastructure services staff, who in turn notified DFO, Crosby said.
Only treated effluent was discharged from the pipe, which had been corroded by age, he said.
"The outfall's been in there since the early '70s, we believe."
