Red tide warning up in 9 coastal towns in Bataan

CITY OF BALANGA, Bataan—Residents in nine towns of Bataan province were cautioned against gathering or eating shellfish from the coastal waters after the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) detected paralytic shellfish poison (PSP) or toxic red tide in these areas recently.

In an advisory Sunday, Wilfredo Cruz, director BFAR in Central Luzon, said the red tide warning covered Hermosa, Samal, Orani, Abucay, Balanga City, Orion, Limay, Mariveles, and Pilar.

Red tide refers to algal blooms where the water is discolored by a high concentration of toxic and nontoxic algae.

Cruz said laboratory tests showed that the red tide toxin in shellfish samples from these areas was beyond the regulatory limit.

He also advised the public to refrain from transporting or selling green mussels, clams, oysters, and other filter-feeding or bivalve species caught from these towns until the toxicity level had gone down below the regulatory limit.

Officials of the provincial agriculture office met Monday to determine the extent of red tide toxin and possible assistance to fishers affected by the phenomenon.

BFAR has been regularly gathering samples from these coastal towns to determine the presence of toxic microorganisms that cause PSP.

In November 2010, red tide forced the provincial government of Bataan to declare a state of calamity in Orani and Samal.

The paralytic shellfish poison had sent thousands of shellfish farmers in the province jobless at that time.

lzb