Shellfish ban raised in 7 Visayas areas

 The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources has announced that a shellfish ban has been imposed in seven coastal waters in the Visayas.

Through Shellfish Bulletin No. 22, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Director General Malcolm Sarmiento Jr. said that the shellfish ban is now being imposed in the coastal of Milagros and Mandaon in Masbate; Juag Lagoon in Matnog; Sorsogon Bay in Sorsogon; Bislig Bay in Bislig City, Surigao del Sur; Dumanquillas Bay in Zamboanga del Sur and Carigara Bay in Leyte.

These areas have been found to be infested with the toxic red tide, thus, to avoid paralytic shellfish poisoning, the public is advised to refrain from eating, gathering or harvesting, transporting and marketing shellfish from said affected areas until such time that the shellfish toxicity level has gone down below the regulatory level.

Cebu however has been spared from the shellfish ban but BFAR has called on the public to avoid shellfishes that came from those areas where the ban has been imposed.

Sarmiento however stressed that fish harvested from the same areas are safe for human consumption provided that they are fresh and thoroughly washed and that their internal organs such as gills and intestines are removed before cooking.

He called on the people in these areas to heed the advise in order to safeguard their health.

In the Visayas, the coastal waters of Cebu,Talisay City, Bacolod City, Victorias City, Pontevedra, Valladolid, San Enrique and Polopandan in Negros Occidental; the coastal waters of Siaton in Negros Oriental; Cancabato Bay in Tacloban City; Leyte, Ormoc and San Pedro Bays in Leyte; Biliran Waters in Biliran Province; Maqueda, Villareal and Irong-irong Bays in Samar, are declared free from red tide.  —Jasmin R. Uy/BRP