RED TIDE, the seasonal contamination of sea water by toxic microorganisms, remains in part of shorelines of Bani town last week.

Local agriculture officials have advised against eating shellfishes coming from the areas until the public advisory is lifted.

The advisory on red tide affecting part of the shoreline in Bani, Pangasinan has not yet been lifted.

The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources and the Department of Agriculture issued the advisory April 4 this year saying high level of toxicity of samples of shellfishes harvested by fishermen from Barangay Wawa, Bani have been confirmed.

The advisory was only for shellfishes, such as mussles, clams, oysters and other similar species harvested from barangay Wawa, one of the coastal areas of the Lingayen Gulf.

This does not affect shellfishes caught in adjacent Bolinao and Anda town which are the locations of large farms now supplying mussels and other shellfishes for Metro Manila and Baguio.

In Dagupan City, Agriculture Officer Emma Molina said in order to protect the public, her office is now continuously monitoring the fish market in Dagupan to find out what these are coming from.
She clarified that fishes are not being affected by red tide because people remove the intestines when cooking these.