FIJIANS have used traditional medicine to treat ciguatera fish poisoning in the past but there are gaps in the reporting of these methods that need to be addressed, says Fisheries Minister Osea Naiqamu.

He made the comments yesterday while opening the Ciguatera Fish Poisoning Workshop in Suva.

Ciguatera is a foodborne illness caused by eating certain contaminated reef fish.

Mr Naiqamu said there was a high incidence of ciguatera fish poisoning in the country but unfortunately a lot of cases were not reported especially those from the rural areas.

“This basically indicates gaps in the reporting and treatment systems which need to be addressed and I hope this workshop would be able to identify and collect some effective traditional medicine and identify a reasonable reporting system that may be used in the reporting of reliable data and the development of modern medication in the future,” Mr Naiqamu said.

“Today is not only an important day in the awareness and recognition of traditional knowledge related to ciguatera fish poisoning in Fiji but also the understanding of its threat to public health.”

He said the workshop was unique as it brought together holders of knowledge, healers, fishers and victims to share their experiences and knowledge with scientists, researchers’ and policy developers in order to advance and develop new ways of addressing ciguatera fish poisoning system in the country

“I think Fiji still needs to relook at recording of ciguatera data and that we need to create modern means of sharing data nationally and not just pieces of data. We need data as a nation for regulators to really work together and leverage our limited fish resources.”