Red tide in Puerto Vallarta and Nayarit is safe for recreational use if you don't mind the dead fish (2023)

Despite the fact that in the last three days, thousands of dead fish have washed ashore on Puerto Vallarta and Nayarit beaches due to red tide, the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) and the state government ensure that the beaches are clean and suitable for recreational use.

“In order to obtain the geometric mean and generate a statistical value that makes it possible to indicate whether or not a beach represents a health risk, Cofepris, in coordination with the state health authorities and the National Network of Public Health Laboratories, In recent days, we took samples of seawater,” the Nayarit government published through its social networks.

In the last three days, thousands of dead fish have appeared on the beaches, specifically in those of Bahía de Banderas, where the authorities, citizens, and private initiative have taken on the task of removing the fish, some of which have been analyzed to determine the cause of death.

This red tide phenomenon has been present in the Bay of Banderas, which also includes the municipalities of Puerto Vallarta and Cabo Corrientes, since the end of February and has continued to this day, highlighted the biologist and researcher at the Center University of the Coast of the University of Guadalajara, María del Carmen Cortés Lara, who had already warned about this natural phenomenon.

“We have been, so far in the year 2022, working and monitoring here in the bay, we observed this red tide from the end of February until yesterday when we went out to the field, and here the curious thing is, this time it is practically covering the entire bay”, according to the professor.

The microorganisms found in the bay are of concern, says the biologist and oceanographer, because they produce neurotoxins, hence hundreds of dead fish were found on the beach in Puerto Vallarta in recent days.

“The red tide that is recorded in the bay derives from the presence of a diatom called Pseudonitzschia, which is quite harmful, warned Cortés, because it is associated with the production of domoic acid, which is a neurotoxin. “That’s why we’ve seen a lot of dead fish in the bay.”

One of the recommendations is that people do not swim in these “dense patches” of red tide, because their skin may be susceptible to some type of irritation and dead fish should not be consumed.

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