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Ciguatera Field Reference
Guide
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Ciguatera is a form of food poisoning caused by eating fish containing
toxins called ciguatoxins which come from micro-algae living on coral
reefs. Ciguatera is a significant public health issue in the Pacific and
in all parts of the world where coral reefs are found. Over the past 20
years, several thousand cases of poisoning have been reported, but this
number is certainly greatly underestimated. The negative publicity
around these events often leads to a reduction of commerce in reef fish
in island communities and also jeopardises reef fish exports (although
this is probably not an entirely negative outcome given that several
locally threatened reef fish species are endangered by the difficulty of
controlling the export trade to ecologically sustainable levels).
Acknowledging the importance of this issue for Pacific Island
communities, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and the
Institute of Research for Development (IRD) have decided to jointly
produce a field guide reviewing current knowledge on the matter.
Chapter 1 of this book is mainly drawn from a document produced by
ORSTOM, now IRD, in 1993, which addressed the theoretical aspects of
ciguatera and its consequences, highlighting the use of traditional
remedies in the South Pacific. This first part has been updated to
include new findings.
Chapter 2 explains how to assess and reduce the risk of ciguatera
poisoning. It provides a practical guide to methods and logical steps
for assessing and trying to manage the risk by introducing monitoring
measures amongst other things.
It is hoped that this joint effort between the two organisations will
enable fisheries managers in the region to better understand the causes
of ciguatera fish poisoning and manage the problem, learning to live
with the risk while reducing it to the absolute minimum.To download the entire document (PDF 9.8 Mo), click
here
To download Chapter 1 (PDF 3.8 Mo), click here
To download Chapter 2 (PDF 6.2 Mo), click here |
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