BALANGA City – The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources on Monday declared Bataan free from the deadly red tide and lifted the shellfish ban it imposed almost 10 months ago last November 5, 2013.
Provincial Agriculturist Imelda Inieto said BFAR issued the latest Shellfish Bulletin declaring the absence of red tide after laboratory tests for three consecutive weeks showed negative results of the toxin from samples of sunset shell or sulib taken in Samal town.
Toxin from the red tide causes paralytic shellfish poisoning. To be safe for eating, shellfish should have tolerable limit of 60 unit grams saxo-toxin per 100ugSTX of shellfish meat. With the lifting of the ban, harvesting, transporting, selling and eating of shellfish from the towns of Hermosa, Orani, Samal, Abucay, Pilar, Orion, Limay and Mariveles and the City of Balanga are no longer prohibited.
Gov. Albert Raymond Garcia welcomed the announcement, saying he was happy that finally those dependent on shellfish for their livelihood can now heave sigh of relief. “Salamat at sa wakas pagkatapos ng halos sampung buwan na nawalan kami ng pinagkakakitaan ay na-deklarang wala nang red tide,” fisherman Eric Ortiguerra and vendors at the Balanga City Public Market said.
Green mussels or tahong and oysters or talaba were back on stalls along the road in Samal and some public markets in 11 towns and one city. Inieto said that the presence of red tide that started November, 2013 was considered as the longest period that hit Bataan since it became almost a yearly phenomenon for the last three years.
“Nagsimula ang red tide sa Bataan noong 1993 pero matagal na tumigil at pagkatapos bumalik nitong sunod- sunod na tatlong taon,” she said. There were seven persons hospitalized for PSP but no death recorded during the period when red tide was declared November 5, 2013, Inieto said.
