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Sabah issues stern warning against Red Tide

By Arman Gunsika
January 10, 2005
Borneo Bulletin

KOTA KINABALU - The Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry warned the public to stop eating any type of shellfishes or bivalves as the Red Tide situation off the West Coast has become more serious.

Routine tests by the Fisheries Department showed the level of red pollution in the affected waters had risen compared to last Wednesday when the warning was first issued. The level of pollution recorded on Wednesday showed an increase of three times the dangerous level of 400 mouse units. Mouse units are used to calculate the amount of poison in the red tide.

Saturday's red tide pollution rate is considered very serious and consumers still ignorant to the warning issued by the ministry would have to take the risk on their own accord. The people must stop eating oysters, mussels, cockles and any types of clam-like seafood as well as not to collect shellfishes and bivalves from the sea.

State Fisheries Department Director Rayner Datuk Stuel Calid said this after a year-long Red Tide Monitoring Programme which they have detected the presence of Paralytic Shell Fish Poisoning (FSP) toxin in samples of bivalves early this year.

Red tide pollution was also detected off Brunei and Sarawak a fortnight ago.

Rayner said samples of bivalves taken from Kuala Penyu as well as samples of waters off Sepangar Bay here have shown to contain toxic level PSP toxins.

The department also detected the presence of high densities of the PSP-causative organism that is the dinoflagellate Pryodinium bahamense var compressium in samples of sea waters taken from these areas.

Meanwhile, samples from the leftover of mussels eaten by a fisherman in Sepangar Bay prior to his death on New Year's day and fresh ones in the nearby sea where the latter had collected them were found to contain Red Tide poison.

A senior agriculture and food industry ministry official confirmed tests on these mussels were conducted by the Fisheries Department in response to the death of Rosli Miri, 31, from Kampung Unggun, Menggatal.

The results indicated a high possibility that Rosli died from Red Tide poisoning adding that the cause of his death could only be confirmed by the health authorities.

Rosli initially complained that parts of his body had gone numb after eating the mussels and rushed to the Menggatal clinic where he later succumbed to his illness.