Tuesday, March 18, 2008 Red tide alarm up in Medellin, Bogo
SEA urchin and shellfish meat from four barangays in Medellin and some parts of Bogo City are affected by red tide and are not safe to eat.
Fish and other marine products coming from these four areas are safe for consumption but must be properly cleaned with running water and their internal organs removed, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (Bfar) 7 said.
The Bfar 7 issued the warning yesterday after conducting laboratory tests following the death of a three-year-old girl last March 10.
The girl reportedly had sea urchin meat for lunch. Three hours later, she became nauseous, started vomiting and felt weak. She was taken to a private hospital in the town but didn’t make it alive.
The girl’s uncle, who harvested the sea urchins off the waters of Barangay Canhabagat, also manifested signs of food poisoning but was able to recover.
Sea urchins
Sea urchins are locally known as con-con, swaki and tihi-tihi.
Medellin Mayor Ricardo Ramirez, however, told Sun.Star Cebu that prior to the March 10 incident, a group of 15 fishermen also reported symptoms of food poisoning.
No one died but one had to be brought to a hospital in Cebu City and has been discharged.
Ramirez said he initially did not think both incidents were related. He thought the poisoning was caused by cyanide.
But when he learned that the group ate sea urchins, Ramirez and a team from the Municipal Government went to Barangay Canhabagat to take samples of sea urchins. These were then taken to the Bfar 7 office for laboratory tests.
Dr. Teresita Lazarte, chief of the Regional Fisheries Laboratory of Bfar 7, confirmed in a radio dyLA interview that red tide toxins were found in the samples taken from the four barangays in Medellin and two barangays in Bogo City.
This is the first time that a red time phenomenon occurred in Cebu.
The four Medellin barangays are Dayhagon, Canhabagat, Tindog and Don Virgilio Gonzales. In Bogo City, the affected barangays are Pulangbato and Nailon. These areas share the coastline of Bogo Bay.
Lazarte said laboratory results show that the toxicity level of the samples was 5,788 micrograms of saxitoxin per 100 grams, way above the allowable 40 micrograms of saxitoxin per 100 grams.
Saxitoxins are poisons found in marine algae.
Lazarte said that aside from the advisory, they will be conducting monitoring and getting samples weekly as part of their safety measures.
Ramirez, in a separate interview, told Sun.Star Cebu that he has banned the harvesting and eating of sea urchins and shellfish meat in the four affected coastal barangays.
Since the presence of red tide toxins was confirmed, Ramirez said the Municipality has been conducting massive information campaigns and has even tapped the parish priest in Barangay Tindog to help.
Bantay Dagat workers, barangay officials and tanods have also been strictly monitoring the waters off these four barangays to ensure that no one will be harvesting the prohibited marine products.
Ramirez also said he has asked the Bfar 7 to inform Bogo City about the phenomenon as marine products from Medellin are usually sold in Bogo. (RCT)
