ussels from Oum Toyour-Chouika may no longer be gathered or sold. The Department of Maritime Fisheries announced on September 4 a ban on the harvesting and the marketing of shellfish products from that classified zone in the Essaouira region, “until the environment is fully purified”.
The decision rests on analyses carried out on site by the National Institute of Fisheries Research, which “show the presence of marine toxins in mussels at levels above the permitted standards”.
The Department urges consumers to buy only packaged, labeled products, and warns that shellfish hawked or sold loose “constitute a danger to public health”.
Nothing in the look of a mussel announces a marine toxin, and it is the sanitary classification of shellfish zones that stands as the guarantee.
The closure carries no fixed term. The Institute’s monitoring, and nothing else, will say when Oum Toyour-Chouika reopens.
Photo: Adam Harangozo, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Secrétariat d’État chargé de la Pêche maritime — communiqué relatif à l’interdiction de la récolte et de la commercialisation des produits conchylicoles issus de la zone conchylicole classée Oum Toyour-Chouika, 4 septembre 2026.
Institut national de recherche halieutique (INRH) — résultats des analyses de la zone conchylicole classée Oum Toyour-Chouika, cités par le communiqué.
