ANGELES CITY – The red tide plague affecting the coastal waters of Bataan and Zambales has turned six months old and has shown no signs of dissipating.
The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) reiterated yesterday its warning the shellfish in the affected areas are banned from being harvested and eaten as they can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning.
“This ban remains in effect in the municipalities of Mariveles, Limay, Orion, Pilar, Abucay, Samal and Orani and the City of Balanga in Bataan, as well as at the Masinloc Bay in Zambales,” said BFAR Regional Information Officer Lanie Lamyong.
Lamyong cited latest laboratory results indicating that “current red tide toxin level in shellfish samples collected from the coastal waters of Bataan and Masinloc Bay are still significantly higher than the tolerable limit of 60 micrograms per 100 grams of shellfish meat.”
She again said that fishes, squids, shrimps and crabs harvested from these areas are safe to eat, “for as long as they are fresh and washed thoroughly and their internal organs such as gills and intestines are removed before cooking.”
The red tide alert in Bataan was initially raised way back in November last year, while that in Zambales was earlier this year.
Earlier, BFAR declared the coastal waters of Alaminos City and two western Pangasinan towns free of red tide toxin, effectively lifting the ban on consumption and trade of shellfish gathered from those areas.
During the last Holy Week, some folk in Bataan urged BFAR to lift the red tide alert in their areas, as they insisted that they have been consuming shellfish recently without being poisoned.
This paved the way for BFAR to involve local government and even barangay officials in the gathering of shellfish meat samples and in the testing of such samples at the BFAR laboratory in Quezon City.
“They got convinced that red tide plague has remained after seeing rats die after eating shellfish meat samples,” said BFAR officer Teresita Gulle.
She said that some folk in Bataan might have developed some immunity from red tide toxins and this explained why those who have been eating shellfish harvested from the affected areas were not poisoned.
But she urged them to cease from consuming shellfish from the affected waters.
