SORSOGON CITY -- Three students from Gubat National High School in Gubat town, Sorsogon province have discovered a way to put into use red tide contaminated shellfish and other marine creatures from Sorsogon Bay.

        Karylle G. Escoto, Keisha Ann F. Escoto, and Leera Maureen Z. Gonzalgo, all second year high school students, found out in their Science research project that shellfish and marine resources contaminated with red tide when processed could be used as an alternative and cheap rat killer or rodenticide.

        GNHS science teacher and coach Maria Elena Escolano said the discovery came out from a classroom project that challenged students to come up with an idea of “finding benefit” from rather than losing hope on the province’s pestering red tide contamination problem.

        “It (the project) may also complement the numerous possible measures and solutions recommended by experts to address the worsening problem of red tide in Sorsogon Bay,” Escolano suggested.

        Sorsogon Bay has been declared positive for toxic red tide organism for almost 17 months now with already 129 victims found to have suffered from paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP), including 10 deaths from Sorsogon City and 5 other municipalities, according to reports by the Provincial Health Office (PHO) here.

        Red tide contamination of the bay has also deprived thousands of shellfish farmers as well as traders of income that also gravely hurt the entire shellfish industry in the province.

        The research study, entitled “Saxotoxin Contaminated Tahong from Sorsogon Bay: A Potent Rodenticide” has already won in the regional competition sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in Legazpi City last December 2007.

        The same research project also qualified in the National Intel DOST Science Investigatory Project Life Science Division, Cluster 1 Team Category, last February 12-14.