LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – The public is informed that Bolinao and Anda coasts are now red tide free as declared by the regional shellfish advisory released by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) recently, thus, shellfish coming from the shorelines of both coastal towns are now fit for human consumption.
The advisory stated that shellfish collected in both coastal areas are now free from toxic red tide thus ‘gathering, transporting, and marketing of shellfish’ from the two municipal coastal waters are now allowed further stressing that shell products are now ‘safe for human consumption.’
As precautionary measure, the BFAR in partnership with the concerned local government units (LGUs) continuously undergo strict monitoring to control the occurrence of harmful algae bloom to protect the health of the consuming public and to safeguard the shellfish industry, as well.
It can be recalled that barely a couple of months ago, the BFAR had issued an advisory that warns the public about the occurrence of red tide in the two western towns.
The provincial government through the office of the provincial agriculturist has exerted all efforts to warn the public against the consumption of shellfish products coming in from the two coastal areas via information dissemination and stricter monitoring measures.
Red tide is a common name for a phenomenon known as algae bloom (large concentrations of aquatic microorganisms) caused by a few species of dinoflagellates and is called as such because the bloom takes on a red or brown color.
BFAR personnel have also previously explained that red tide occurrences–like estuarine, marine, or fresh water algae– accumulate rapidly in the water column which results to coloration of the surface water.
By Dexter A. See