oysters and red tide

[Reel-Knotty]

was up at Parksville beach today seen about 10 people with pails full of oysters then as I was leaving seen them all in the back of a 3/4 ton pickup it was full are these people eating them even though its flagged red tide

cheers

 

[agentaqua]

http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/contamination/sani/area-secteur-14/area-secteur-14-eng.html
David Fogtmann

Phone: 250-339-3799
Fax: 250-339-4612
david.fogtmann@dfo-mpo.gc.ca
Resource Management
DFO South Coast Division
148 Port Augusta St.
Comox, BC V9M 3N6

 

[eroyd]

Bivalves are still commercially harvested but are put through a thorough flushing process before being sold to the consumer.

 

[agentaqua]

Bivalves are still commercially harvested but are put through a thorough flushing process before being sold to the consumer.

They can - if need be - but that only works for sanitary closures (i.e. faecal coliforms) - not PSP or "red tide"...

 

[Reel-Knotty]

Thanks for clearing that up

 

[trophywife]

ha! i watched a family pickin them off the rocks at depart bay,, gross!!

 

[agentaqua]

Thanks for clearing that up

Retention rates for PSP toxin in shellfish depends upon: 1/ Amounts of the dinoflagellate Alexandrium spp. in the water, 2/ How long that bloom lasts for, 3/the tissue(s) affected and/or eaten, and 4/ the species of shellfish. Intertidal shellfish often concentrate the PSP toxin in tissues such as gonads, stomach and at the end of the siphon (the black tip). It is suggested that by concentrating the toxin at the tip of the siphon - any Dungeness coming in the intertidal with the rising tide - looking for a shellfish meal - gets more than he was looking for.
http://www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/fm-gp/contamination/biotox-eng.html
http://www.bccdc.ca/resource-galler... Events/EH/FPS/Deirdre_MonitoringPrograms.pdf
They used to publish online the PSP levels as tested by mouse bioassay - can't seem to find it now...