A new campaign promoting Island oysters, initiated by the P.E.I. Aquaculture Alliance, is inviting Islanders and tourists to get "shucked in" to the newly dubbed PEI Oyster Society.

The campaign mimics the Newfoundland tradition of having visitors get "screeched in."

Prior to being "shucked in," people will receive a membership card with the PEI Oyster Society Oath. The idea is that they recite the oath before downing the oyster, which is being branded as a "salty kiss." With the oyster eaten and the oath recited, people become members of the PEI Oyster Society.

'You go into a restaurant and they ask you if you want to be 'shucked in' for a salty kiss? I think it's a tremendous idea.'—P.E.I. fisheries minister Ron MacKinley

"Our goal is to create a new Island experience similar to being 'screeched in,'" said Melody Dover, of the marketing agency behind the campaign, in a release.

"Eating a fresh shucked oyster creates such a memorable moment for people, we feel that it represents a fun rite of passage to being an Islander."

Ron MacKinley, the Island's fisheries minister, was part of the announcement on Monday at Carr's Oyster Bar in Stanley Bridge.

"Well P.E.I. oysters already have their own brand and they're well known all over the world. This is a way to promote it better by getting the tourists involved," MacKinley said.

"If you're going out with a group of people for an evening or something, and all of a sudden you go into a restaurant and they ask you if you want to be shucked in for a salty kiss? I mean, I think it's a tremendous idea."

Thirty-one Island restaurants are participating in the campaign.

Last year the oyster industry on P.E.I. was worth $5.8 million to the provincial economy. On average, the P.E.I. oyster fishery supplies 60 per cent of all the oysters harvested in Canada.