TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte, Philippines — Red toxins that have been spotted in the bay off Tarangnan town in Samar have spread to other bays in the province, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) in Eastern Visayas said.
The BFAR regional office reported earlier that two persons were killed and 20 others were ill after eating shellfish taken from the Cambatutay Bay in Tarangnan, Samar.
The BFAR-8 has issued public advisories asking people to refrain from eating, gathering or harvesting, transporting and marketing shellfish from the affected waters.
Juan Albaladejo, BFAR regional director, said that based on their monitoring last Friday, the Irong-Irong Bay in Catbalogan City and Calbayog Waters in Calbayog City were confirmed to be positive for red tide causing organism.
Red tide is the common term used for harmful algal blooms (HABs), based on the website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the US Department of Commerce (https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/redtide.html).
The HABs appear when colonies of algae—simple ocean plants grow out of control while producing toxic or harmful effects on people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals and birds. The human illnesses caused by HABs, though rare, can be debilitating or even fatal.
The Irong-Irong Bay, which covers Catbalogan and part of Tarangnan, town also in Samar, was found to have 1,000 cells of red tide toxins per liter of water, way above the accepted level of 10 cells per liter.
The waters in Calbayog City, particularly those off Carayman, Poblacion, San Policapo, Saljag, Tinambacan, Malajog and Maguino-o, were found to be positive of the red tide toxin with an average of 700 cells per liter.
The tests made by Tarangnan municipal and Samar provincial agriculture offices found that waters in Cambatutay Bay were found to have red tide toxicity level of up to 2,158 cells per liter at the Gallego area and 1,815 cells per liter at the Bahay portion.