Fisheries warns of poisonous mussels

THE Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources on Friday issued a statement warning people at the coast, especially in the Walvis Bay and Swakopmund areas, not to eat mussels because they have become poisonous.

According to the statement signed by fisheries permanent secretary Moses Maurihun-girire, tests of mussel samples showed that there were high levels of 'Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning' (DSP). This makes it unfit for human consumption. This infection of mussels is blamed on a current algae bloom in the ocean along the central coast. Algae blooms can be fatal to sea life, depending on the severity of the bloom.