Quebec police say the military has recovered an unexploded shell along the banks of the St. Lawrence River near Trois-Rivières, Que.

Police, who were called to the town of Nicolet on Friday to form a security perimeter, have confirmed that soldiers recovered the object, which was deemed harmless.

The municipality says in a social media post that the Canadian Armed Forces would transport the shell to another location and destroy it.

No evacuation was needed.

The town says the shell had been submerged under a rising tide in the Port Saint-François area across the St. Lawrence River from Trois-Rivières.

Two shells were found within two days in the same area last July.

Between 1952 and 2000, the Defence Department conducted tests at a munitions test centre in Nicolet by firing into Lac Saint Pierre, through which the river flows.

The federal government says firing now takes place inside a sand-filled containment berm, where the munitions are then recovered.