CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) junked the appeal of local officials and shellfish raisers, gatherers and vendors to lift the red tide alert in Balanga City and seven other Bataan towns amid the rise in demand for shellfish last Holy Week.
“Some residents have claimed they have been eating shellfish recently without anyone of them getting sick, but our laboratory findings says that red tide toxin in samples of shellfish meat was at 258 micrograms per 100 grams,” June Coloma of the regional fish health office of the BFAR here.
The tolerable limit for red tide elements in only 60 micrograms per 100 grams of shellfish meat.
“The ban on shellfish harvesting and selling remains in effect in Balanga, Mariveles, Limay, Orion, Pilar, Abucay, Samal and Orani,” Coloma said.
Early last week, local officials and shellfish raisers, gatherers and sellers in Abucay town appealed to BFAR to lift the ban at least in their areas, insisting that the local products have already been rid of red tide toxins.
Abucay folk said they have been eating green mussels or tahong daily without any one of them being stricken ill.
Abucay town Councilor Rudy Valencia lamented false reports on the red tide situation, citing one which claimed that a local woman died recently after eating mussels caught in Bataan. “It turned out that the incident happened in November last year,” he said.
They Abucay folk, however, withdrew their demand after, upon the invitation of BFAR Director Remedios Ontangco, they were asked to join a team of BFAR technicians in gathering shellfish meat samples from the questioned areas.
“They were also asked to observe in our laboratory in Quezon City the testing of the samples which were fed to mice which all died from red tide toxin poisoning,” Coloma said.
Coloma said that the Abucay folk might have developed significant immunity from red tide toxins and that this explained why none of them got ill despite their consuming shellfish from their areas,” he said.
“We understand their situation because there was a rise in demand for sea products during Holy Week because of the prescribed meat abstinence among Christians, but public safety comes first,” Coloma stressed.
He also noted that when red tide was first reported in Bataan in November last year, the BFAR distributed “gill nets” to shellfish gatherers to enable them to shift to harvesting fish in their areas, as fishes are safe to eat for as long as their innards are removed and are well washed.
