"This is usually done by poachers who, since they don't live off the sale of fish either, sell it cheaper and restaurants buy it, even risking what has happened." This was stated by Domingo Hernández, a member of the San Ginés Fishermen's Association, after learning about the cases of food poisoning registered on the island so far this year. "This is nothing new, although perhaps it has increased with the crisis."
Hernández explains that, in the case of amberjacks, if they exceed 15 kilos, they must undergo a control to find out if they are contaminated. "The toxins accumulate in the body but, if they are small fish, even if they have the toxins, since they are in small quantities, they do not affect the human body," he says.
These tests, he says, were previously done by the fishermen's associations themselves, but "since last summer" they began to be done in the laboratory through the Health Department. "The tests came from Hawaii and apparently they could no longer be obtained, but also each test cost about 42 euros, so I also suppose they were eliminated due to the costs. They were like two reactive strips. A small sample of the fish was taken, placed in a tube with the strip and in an hour or so the result was obtained. Now it lasts weeks and that is why professional fishermen are not compensated and when they see an amberjack that can exceed 15 kilos they directly return it to the sea," he says.
In reality, the amberjack does not feed directly on ciguatera, as it is carnivorous. "It eats another fish, which in turn may have eaten another that fed on ciguatera and becomes intoxicated," explains Domingo Hernández.
Cases of ciguatera poisoning in the Canary Islands, according to Hernández, began to occur "about three years ago." "Then a family, who was on board a yacht, was poisoned with amberjacks and from there they began to investigate," he says.
Other fish
However, there are other fish such as wahoo, silverfish, pollock, grouper, marlin, sierra and swordfish that can also be affected and that must also pass a control if they exceed a certain number of kilos, depending on the species. However, Hernández specifies, "it is usually the amberjack in which it occurs the most, because it is rare for the rest of the fish to exceed the indicated kilos."
Even so, although cases have been detected, Hernández assures that "it is difficult for a fish to test positive" for ciguatera. "In this Association, I think there have only been two positives among 50 and 100 tests that have been done," he says.
Hernández points out that he does not know "what the presence" of ciguatera in Canary waters in recent years may be due to. "But it is also true that the amberjack is a fish that walks a lot and that may be intoxicated in another area and not in the Canary Islands."
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