A lot of people have asked me over the years if the fish on Vieques are safe to eat. Their concerns usually come from what they read on the internet before they get to the island or what they’ve been told by the locals, mainly the gringos they meet at Al’s or Duffy’s, who warn them of toxic fish. This is really unfortunate but there is a bit of truth to some of these concerns that should be addressed.
So let’s start with what is true. There is a serious sickness that can be contracted from some fish on Vieques, as well as other temperate waters, known as ciguatera. Pronounced “sig-wha-TER-ah,” it’s caused by an accumulation of a poison known as ciguatoxin in the flesh of larger fish. This comes from algae that grows on coral and is passed up the food chain from the small reef dwellers that eat it. Throughout much of the Atlantic and Caribbean the most notorious carrier of ciguatera is the barracuda. These fish are so commonly linked with this poisoning that it is actually illegal to sell commercially or serve barracuda in restaurants in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. But ciguatera has also been found in more popular food species such as grouper and some large snapper.
Ciguatera is actually a neurological poisoning that produces several unpleasant symptoms. Most people initially feel a numbness or tingling sensation around their lips or on their fingers and toes. Sometimes this is followed by a reversal in temperature sensation. In other words, cold thing feel hot and hot things feel cold. After that the vomiting and diarrhea occurs and can last for several days, causing extreme dehydration.
Unfortunately there is no antidote for ciguatera once it’s contracted. And even more unfortunate is the fact that there is no simple method for detecting its presence in fish outside of a lab. There are a lot of traditional folk methods employed throughout the world and some are quite bizarre. The most popular one is to lay a nickel on the flesh and watch if it changes color. In the Bahamas they simply wait for flies to land on the fish. If it’s covered with flies it’s safe to eat. (?!) I’ve even heard of feeding a piece of meat to a cat and watching for symptoms. None of these methods actually work and simply cooking the fish also has no effect on the toxin.
Now for some good news: Ciguatera is extremely rare, especially in places with strict food safety regulations such as the U.S. and Puerto Rico. I’ve eaten saltwater fish for most of my life, including the occasional small barracuda, and have never had a single symptom. I personally know only one friend who contracted it from a very large grouper caught in the Keys. Ciguatera is also completely avoidable by simply eating fish that have no danger of carrying it. These are the pelagic or open ocean species such as tuna, mahi-mahi, or wahoo. These deep water fish have practically no chance of accumulating the toxin from their food supply and are completely safe and delicious, too. Even if you do choose to order a locally caught reef dweller such as grouper or snapper, most are usually too small to have enough ciguatoxin built up to cause any sickness.
The other fish poisoning scare on Vieques comes from the alleged threat of man-made contamination caused by the fifty year presence of the U.S. Navy. The internet is still full of articles about toxins such as depleted uranium and mercury in our soil and water coming from the former bombing range on the island’s eastern tip. The majority of these articles are either highly exaggerated or completely false. Without getting into the politics involved, a lot of private “studies” were done by outside entities with the specific intention of scaring the local population and turning them against the Navy. Just about every single news story done about the military on Vieques during the years leading up to their 2003 departure was highly slanted. At the same time a lot of well known people bought into this and came to the island simply to get their faces on TV, giving the anti-Navy side a lot of publicity.
The truth is that there is absolutely no reason for concern about man-made contamination in the Vieques drinking water, the food grown in our soil, or the fish caught off our shores. The bombs detonated on the island’s eastern training range were entirely conventional, meaning non-nuclear or chemical. The primary explosive in these bombs was TNT, a nitrogen based compound very similar to commercial fertilizer. While there were more toxic components contained in some ordinance, it was of such trace amounts that it could never contaminate the local fish population.
Defending the Navy won’t win me any friends on Vieques and I’m personally glad they left back in 2003 because some of the best bonefishing in the Caribbean is right there in the old training site. But it really bothers me when I get a phone call from potential customers who’d like to come to the island but are afraid for the safety of their children, thanks to what they’ve read on the internet.
For the past six years, tourism has been the engine that’s driven Vieques forward and I find it really ironic that the scare tactics used to get rid of the Navy are still at work poisoning this island’s economic future. So if you’re busy Googling Vieques in preparation for a trip ignore the negative articles or read them with a huge dose of skepticism. This is one of the healthiest and most unspoiled ecosystems in all of the Caribbean so come on down. And while you’re here, go ahead and order the seafood paella at Tradewinds.
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