Pseudo-nitzschia Bloom in Bolinao, Pangasinan

by Maria Beverly Sambajon

Published: JUNE 02, 2023

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Pseudo-nitzschia Bloom in Bolinao, Pangasinan

Pseudo-nitzschia Bloom in Bolinao, Pangasinan

BLOOM ALERT!

HABs Watch Project's Team MSI has also confirmed a bloom event in Bolinao, Pangasinan, this time for Pseudo-nitzschia. It has been detected in three out of five sampling stations during their scheduled sampling and monitoring last May 24, 2023.

Cell count per liter of sampled water has reached 55,571,883 for Station 1, 33,402,045 for Station 2 and 2,821,880 for Station 3. Some species of Pseudo-nitzschia are known to produce domoic acid, which can cause Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning. However, while they can produce domoic acid, they do not do so all the time.

Team members have informed local authorities and agencies. They are currently still in the area to conduct more sampling, even in other sites outside their usual sampling stations to map out the extent of the bloom. They will also conduct toxin analysis on the samples to determine toxicity.