A Department of the Marine official last night met 30 Co Mayo shellfish growers to discuss continuing confusion over a shellfish harvesting ban because of algal blooms.
Algal bloom can cause biotoxins in shellfish, which are then harmful when consumed by humans. It is a natural phenomenon, and the Department of the Marine carries out continuous testing to establish the safety of waters for shellfish harvesting.
Last week, the Food Safety Authority listed Currane, in Achill, as one of 30 areas nationally where a shellfish ban was in place because of biotoxins. However, local harvesters claimed they had not been informed by the Department of the Marine of such a ban.
In response, the Department of the Marine said a ban had been in place at Currane and that Currane and Rualaun were adjoining waters. It claimed the confusion arose from a geographical definition of the area involved.
Last night, Mr Stiofan De Burca, the Department of the Marine official who met the shellfish growers in Achill Sound, said he was not prepared to speak to the press. He said he did not have the authority to do so and would not allow members of the press to attend the meeting with the harvesters.
Afterwards, the shellfish producers explained that Mr De Burca's main message was that more testing had to be carried out by shellfish harvesters in the area. From next week, harvesters will have to send the Department two samples a week instead of the present weekly sample.
In addition, new maps of the Achill bay areas are to be drawn up by the Department of the Marine, and the department will be consulting local people in the process. Local information is vital in such compilations, particularly in relation to tidal flows.
Mr De Burca did not make clear the present status of either the Rualaun or Currane areas in relation to a ban on harvesting.
Producers say there are too many bodies giving conflicting views on the toxicity or otherwise of shellfish harvesting areas. They say they have nothing to hide but stress that new and improved methods of detecting toxicity in the waters must be employed by the people responsible for the tests, the Department of the Marine.
The main emphasis at last night's meeting was for Achill-based shellfish harvesters to send more water samples to the Department of the Marine. Yet the Department of Marine stressed that it was up to the Department of Health to make a decision on the opening or closing of an area to shellfish harvesting once the results of tests were known.