The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has posted closure signs around the Charlottetown area. (CBC)

The closing of the shellfishery around Charlottetown due to sewage overflows is costing local fishermen.

Since early June, heavy rains have shut down various portions of the harbour and the rivers leading into it . Fishermen are being forced to go after shellfish in new, unfamiliar areas.

"[What] I'm getting around now is almost half of the catch of what I usually get," said quahog fishermen Jason Budgell.

"We have to look for ground that hasn't been touched, which is like trying to find a needle in a haystack," added Carl Palmer.

"If it doesn't open at all, I'll lose 10 to 15 thousand dollars."

The problem lies with an older section of Charlottetown's drainage system, where the sanitary sewer and storm sewers flow through the same pipes. In heavy rains, the treatment plant is overwhelmed, and untreated sewage flows into the harbour. Five times since the spring, heavy rains have overwhelmed the system. Unlike in years past the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is now getting tough on human waste, treating it as a potential source of contamination in shellfish.

Since the quahog fishery opened a week ago, dozens of fisherman have been searching for new ground. The problem is even worse for those that have leases, areas where they are allowed to farm shellfish.

Tyler Matthews can't harvest oysters from his lease. (CBC)

Tyler Matthews has a lease on the West River where he has been growing oysters for four years. They are now market size, but he can't sell them.

"We can't move anything. And we're just getting built up and built up with oysters, and with nothing to do with them," said Matthews.

"There's people calling looking. We already missed out on a 100-box sale, a 50-box sale."

The city has a consultant working on a plan to separate its sanitary and storm sewers, but it would cost millions of dollars. The project is only under consideration at this point.

For fishermen around Charlottetown, that means they just have to hope for an end to heavy rains.