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News !
Ciguatera field guide
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 all parts of the world
where coral reefs are found. Over the past 20 years, several thousands of
poisoning have been reported, but this number is certainly greatly
underestimated. The negative publicity around these events often lead 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.
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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 measures amongst
other things.
This book is bilingual (English and French). For further information,
please contact the publications services of the SPC (email) or IRD
(documentation@noumea.ird.nc)
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