Wednesday, March 21, 2007 Fisheries bureau lifts shellfish ban in Siaton By Grace Q. Camion
THE Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (Bfar) in Manila has announced that it is now safe to gather, sell, and eat shellfish coming from the municipal waters of Siaton in Negros Oriental.
At the same time, Bfar officially announced the lifting of the shellfish ban in the said municipality based on its latest Shellfish Advisory No. 02, dated March 13, 2007, said Capitol Information Officer Oliver Lemence.
In his official memorandum addressed to Governor George Arnaiz, Bfar National Capital Regional Director Malcolm Sarmiento Jr. said that "based on the results of red tide monitoring activities of Bfar and the Municipal Agriculture Office, Siaton is now negative for the red tide toxin."
"Negative results for Paralytic Shellfish Poison (PSP) were obtained from three consecutive weeks of sampling in the area," Sarmiento stressed.
Based on this conclusive evidence, Sarmiento said, "The public is hereby informed that shellfish harvested from the coastal waters of Siaton, Negros Oriental are now safe for human consumption."
He added that "gathering and/or harvesting, and marketing of shellfish harvested from the above-mentioned area is now permitted."
The Bfar and Municipal Agriculture Office of Siaton are continuously monitoring the coastal waters of Siaton to safeguard public health and to protect the shellfish industry in the southern part of the province.
According to the National Research Council (NSC), a British owned-government agency, a red tide is caused by several microscopic marine algae that are notoriously poisonous to humans who consume them in shellfish.
These microorganisms thrive due to increase light intensity and favorable levels of salinity and nutrients in ocean water.
The NSC said that during the growth period, or bloom, each single algae may replicate itself one million times in two to three weeks.
It causes discoloration of warm, shallow seawater as a result of the various pigments the plants use to trap sunlight, among which the most common and abundant color pigment is red. The phenomenon is now known as the red tide.
Some of the toxins these species produce are seriously toxic. Often, the algae themselves are unaffected, as are the filter feeders, especially shellfish, for whom micro-algae are the principal diet.
