Consumption of shark meat in eastern Madagascar kills 9

Nine people died from consumption of shark meat in Fenerive-Est, 450 kilometers northeast of Madagascar's capital Antananarivo, hospital source said on Tuesday. The incident began on Nov. 10 when a fisherman in a village of Ampasimbe in the district of Fenerive-Est captured a shark and sold its meat at about one dollar per kilo in the village. One died directly after eating the meat, while about 100 people were evacuated to hospital. Two of them died a day later and the death toll increased to nine on Tuesday. The minister of fisheries, Manoriky Sylvain, who rushed to the spot, explained that the shark ate toxic seaweeds. This seaweeds are not toxic for the shark but for the people who eat its meat. The ministry of fisheries forbid the consumption of certain fresh fish, as shark, sardine and others until further notice in almost all Madagascar's coasts. The ministry explained that this problem cannot affect exportation of fishery products from Madagascar because there is strict control process for it. Fishery products constitute an important source of foreign income for Madagascar, with approximately 160 million U.S. dollar of revenue by year for the country, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics. According to data from the ministry of fisheries, it is estimated that Madagascar has approximately 4,500 kilometers of coastline, 177,000 square kilometers of continental shelf and 1 million square kilometers exclusive economic zone.