Red tide alerts
Posted on April 22, 2006 - Filed Under General, Red tide, Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning, BFAR Bulletin |
NEXT time, will the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR)please just keep its traps shut about coastal waters in Pangasinan being free from the aquatic phenomenon called "red tide" during a certain period?
You see, I believe, it would be more sensible if the agency just quickly issues bulletins when red tide sets in and not when it is absent in the waters. Why? Issuing public announcements about safety of marine products from the toxin brought by RT tends to lull buyers into a sense of complacency. They would be buying shellfish (generally considered a budget food fare) in abandon, forgetting their better senses that such a state of safety of shellfish products could change drastically overnight.
Take last week's monitoring of the Bani-Bolinao coastal area by the same BFAR. Philippine News Agency had just sent out news based on BFAR bulletin on April 17 that the "coastal waters of Pangasinan remain free from red tide toxin (PSP toxins) based on latest analyses x x x"
Barely four days later, BFAR was alerting the public that the same coastal waters "are now positive for the deadly red tide toxin" under its Shellfish Bulletin No. 07 dated — quite strangely enough — April 13,2006. The bulletins have apparently overlapped or the PNA news on the "all-clear" earlier was issued quite belatedly, at about the time red tide had already settled in the water of Bolinao and Bani.
See why we are suggesting that only alert bulletins on red tide (when it is monitored to be actually present already) be issued by BFAR and not when the waters are clear of it?
BTW, other than shellfish, those tiny shrimps "alamang' from red tide affected areas are also unsafe for human consumption, according to the BFAR Bulletin issued by BFAR Dir.Malcolm Sarmiento. Fish, squids, shrimps and crabs are safe for eating provided that these are fresh, washed thoroughly and their internal organs such as gills and intestines are removed before cooking.
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[...] After All is exasperated over Red Tide alerts -and non-alerts. Now What, Cat? is infuriated (and rightly so) over ordinary people being bilked by their higher-ups, and how such behavior can be contagious and even held by people you'd normally consider unlikely to give employees the shaft. [...]