TACLOBAN CITY — The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) has declared the shellfish rich island municipality of Zumarraga in Samar as red tide-free allowing hundreds of fisherfolk to resume their main source of livelihood — shellfish gathering.

However, the BFAR regional office warned that four more bodies of water in Eastern Visayas remains under shellfish ban due to presence of red tide toxins beyond the regulatory limit.

On the other hand, two waters — San Pedro Bay and the coastal water of Calbayog City — are placed in local red tide warning due to the presence of Pyrodinium bahamense, a dinoflagellate that produces red tide toxin (Saxitoxin), on the filtered seawater samples gathered from these areas.

“We feel relieved that the ban is over. This is a good start of the year,” says Ruben Astorga, a fisherfolk of the coastal village of Camayse in Zumarraga, whose main source of income is gathering of oyster and green mussels which he sells to a consolidator in the village.

The island town of Zumarraga, with a population 16,279 residents based on the 2020 Census, is one the rich producers of shellfish such as tahong, talaba, pantion and sarad in Samar.

BFAR-8 said among the waters where shellfish ban remains strictly imposed are the island town of Daram, Irong-Irong Bay in Catbalogan City, Matarinao Bay in Eastern Samar and in Biliran island.

In these areas, harvesting, eating, and collecting all types of shellfish and alamang gathered from these waters are strictly prohibited where violators will be penalized.