P.E.I. offers millions of dollars in funding to oyster farmers hard-hit by disease
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CHARLOTTETOWN – The P.E.I. government is offering a pair of new aid programs worth a combined $9.2 million to help harvesters hard-hit by oyster disease.
The programs will help fishers, growers and processors recover from a parasite known as MSX and from Dermo disease, both of which are harmless to humans but kill oysters at high rates.
MSX was discovered on the Island in the summer of 2024 and Dermo a year later.
The government is creating an income stabilization program to provide aid and help manage immediate costs for growers who’ve lost income from the parasites.
A new Oysters Processors Inventory Mitigation Program will give financial support for processors to buy and hold oysters from provincial harvesters, reducing risk if the shellfish never reaches market.
P.E.I.’s oyster sector is the second-largest in Canada at $24 million, with more than 500 fishers and growers and 18 processors on the Island.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 19, 2025.