GUANGZHOU: The Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Public Health yesterday urged relevant government departments to expand and tighten examinations of the province's seafood.

The bureau's emergency notice came after it was forecast that a large-scale red tide will hit the eastern waters of South China's Guangdong Province in the "near future."

The city of Huizhou and the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, which borders the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, are expected to be hit particularly hard by the red tide.

All sea creatures that have been killed by red tide must be kept away from local seafood markets, the bureau's notice said.

According to a bureau official who refused to be named, sea creatures that have been killed by red tide are poisonous and should not be eaten.

Those who eat sea creatures affected by red tide will suffer from bad food poisoning and this could lead to the spread of an epidemic.

No companies or individuals are allowed to sell or process sea creatures that have been killed by red tide, the official said.

"Otherwise, they will have to bear responsibility for the results and will be severely punished," the official said.

"No such food-poisoning cases have been reported in Guangdong so far, but we have to enhance our vigilance," the official added.

The official also urged the breeding stock of sea creatures to be transported to safe areas to reduce any economic damage.

Red tide is a discolouration of sea water caused by a large number of single-celled organisms known as red dinoflagellates. They kill fish and other organisms by releasing poison. Worsening ocean pollution has been attributed as the main cause of red tide, which has also been aggravated by the recent unstable weather.

The Guangdong provincial government has called for concrete and effective measures to be taken as soon as possible to protect the sea, which play an important role in the southern province's economic growth.

The province will expand and tighten examinations of its waters to control red tide and prevent it from spreading, the government said.

Red tide first struck Guangdong waters in the spring of 1998. The coastal cities of Huizhou, Shantou, Shenzhen, Yangjiang and Zhuhai all reported red tide that year.

More than 400 tons of fish have been killed every year since then. Direct economic losses caused by red tide have come to more than 40 million yuan (US$4.87 million) a year.

(HK Edition 07/31/2003 page2)