Red tide prompts shellfish consumption warning
Dec 06, 2011 6:31 PM EST
For the first time since the red tide was spotted off of Lee County's shores, the Lee County Health Department is speaking out.
The latest water samples taken show that there are about 3 million cells of red tide per liter of water; anything above 1 million cells is considered high by FWC.
Marine biologists are estimating thousands of fish and other marine life are being killed each day by the red tide.
Although there doesn't seem to be any dead fish washing ashore, mollusks, like clams, scallops and mussels are.
Shellfish don't usually die from the red tide toxin, but can give people neurotoxic shellfish poisoning.
The Lee County Health Department says eating them they can make you sick with throat, lung, or stomach irritations.
"It's probably airing on the side of caution," says Fort Myers resident John Clark.
However, the health department is saying it's unlikely sick mollusks would make it to your dinner table.
Local clam farms are tested a few times a week for the deadly toxin, and shut down if affected.
"Everything that comes in has a tag on it with what bay it comes out of and all the regulations on it and it's safe," says Beach Market Seafood owner Denis Henderson.
But Henderson says it's easy for people to get the wrong idea.
"They'll probably stop eating shellfish all together," he says.
His business takes pride in selling local products, but he says if any tests were fishy, they wouldn't make it to his business.
"The Florida Agricultural Department, they really do a lot of testing and anything in any bay they find and shut it down," he says.
The shellfish that could make you sick are the ones you find washing up on the beach or in your own backyard.
One marine biologist compared eating shellfish on the beach, to eating a raccoon dead on the side of the road.
"I would never go out and get my own in these waters here because you really don't know," Henderson says.
Live shelling is prohibited within a half mile of shore anyway, so this shouldn't be an issue, but it's not uncommon for people to pick up scallops, clams and conch from these shires and eat them everyday.
NBC News
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