Cushioning the impact of the red tide alert, affected residents in at least seven coastal barangays in the city have been provided with relief goods.

Tagbilaran City Mayor John Geesnell Yap II sent the Barangay Affairs and Constituency Unit (BACU) of the city government to distribute relief packs to barangays Ubujan, Manga, Taloto, Poblacion 1, Poblacion 2, Mansasa and Bool.

This is only the palliative means, while the city government is working on the septage management, according to Mayor Yap.

  He said the city government is undertaking recent initiatives on septage management through the assistance of USAID/SURGE (U.S. Agency for International Development/Strengthening Urban Resilience for Growth with Equity).

When the septage management mechanism will be in place, the city government expects to mitigate the red-tide endemic that is affecting Tagbilaran.

 The regional office of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR)-7, again, hoisted the red tide alert on November 19.

The surge of red tide organisms covers the same areas- -Dauis and Tagbilaran City.

BFAR-7 advised local officials in these areas to temporarily prohibit shellfish gleaners or inter-tidal foragers from gathering shellfish.

  Local government units in Dauis and Tagbilaran City were prompted to provide assistance to residents in coastal areas as alternative while they are still prevented from foraging on the inter-tidal zones where marine products are affected by red tide organisms.

For the fish vendors, they had barely recovered yet from the impact of the longest red tide experienced being hoisted and another one comes.

  It was only in March this year that the longest red tide alert in the province had been lifted by BFAR-7.

A similar red tide advisory- -covering Dauis and Tagbilaran areas- -ran from sometime in June last year to March this year.

However, BFAR-Bohol continued to warn local governments of Dauis and Tagbilaran to remain vigilant since then, and continue monitoring the coastal areas to make sure any resurgence of red tide toxins would be promptly acted upon.

By mid-October this year, BFAR-7 already warned Bohol consumers of the possible resurgence of red tide.