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Mussel rafts at a Galician estuary. (Photo: Lia Russo)
Over 230 platforms closed in Galicia due to diarrheal toxin
SPAIN
Wednesday, September 19, 2012, 01:50 (GMT + 9)
The Galician government closed the vast majority of the mussel polygons of the Pontevedra estuary due to the presence of diarrheal or DSP toxin.
The 230 platforms affected by the closure are in Bueu and Aldan, newspaper Faro de Vigo reported.
As every year, the red tide appears in Galician waters by the late European summer and at present the only estuary that has been affected is that of Pontevedra, as it was indicated in the analysis performed by experts of the Technological Institute for the Control of the Marine Environment (Intecmar).
The members of the mussel sector expect the red tide goes down from October or November, the months leading up to the Christmas season.
DSP offered a short truce to the sector this summer:
- In Bueu it lasted just 20 days and before the end of August, the Institute ordered the closure of the three mussel polygons: Bueu A1, Bueu A2 -- both between Agrelo and Lapamán, with more than 110 rafts -- and Bueu B, located opposite Beluso and with 25 nurseries;
- The estuary of Aldán resisted a little longer, but finally on 11 September Intecmar decreed the closure of the parks Cangas A and Cangas B, grouping more than a hundred rafts from Couso to Arneles.
The diarrheal toxin also forced the closure of two of the three polygons on the other side of the estuary, Portonovo B and C, on Thursday and on Saturday.
So far, the only rafts that have remained open in the estuary of Pontevedra are those of Portonovo A.
The mussel harvesters from Aldán and from Bueu fear that the red tide is as aggressive as that of 2011, when for the first time in many years they lost the Christmas season.
Last year, diarrheal toxin added to PSP or paralyzing toxin, which extended the closure until early January 2012.
Related article:
- Galician mussel farming polygons closed due to red tide
By Analia Murias
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com
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