A red tide warning was issued by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in Central Visayas in Madridejos town, Bantayan Island in Cebu province.

Amid the red tide warning, Madridejos town Mayor Romeo Villaceran assured that the local government will provide assistance to affected fisherfolks.

The advisory warned constituents not to harvest and consume shellfish in the meantime. These included oysters, scallops, cockles, mussels, clams and acetes species or krill.

" We will confiscate banned shellfish and alamang if our Municipal Agriculture's Office find them during their inspections," Villaceran said.

Villaceran ordered the Municipal Agriculture Office to conduct regular inspections in markets and coastal areas, in which they also confiscated shellfish and alamang.

However, he assured residents that other seafood such as fish, shrimp, crabs and squid remained safe for consumption, as long as they were thoroughly and properly cleaned.

BFAR-7 expanded the red tide alert to northern mainland Bogo-Medellin bays.

"To safeguard human lives and mitigate impacts on the shellfish industry while waiting for the results of the confirmatory analysis, this warning is issued as a precautionary advice to the public to refrain from gathering, selling and eating all types of shellfish and acetes species, locally known as alamang from the coastal waters of Bogo-Medellin bay," said BFAR-7 officer-in-charge Mario Ruinata.

He cited a laboratory analysis conducted by the regional Fisheries laboratory on one sea urchin sample collected in Bogo-Medellin Bay tested positive for paralytic shellfish poison.

Red tide is a type of algae that grows and multiply faster than usual to the extent that the water's colors slowly turn red. It is considered harmful algae blooms as it produces deadly biotoxins that, when ingested, may cause diarrheic shellfish poisoning or paralytic shellfish poisoning, which both can be fatal.