A HONG KONG scientist has become the first to discover toxins in shellfish in Antarctica, increasing evidence that pollution from populated countries is harming the formerly pristine area.
Dr Ho Kin-chung hopes to publish his findings in a United Nations oceanography newsletter next month and in a scientific journal a few months later.
Dr Ho, senior lecturer in environmental studies at the Open Learning Institute, said his findings indicated that Antarctica might suffer red tides like those that kill marine life in Hong Kong waters.
''Antarctic water used to be the cleanest water in the world, so it's very sad news,'' he said.
Single-cell algae, which produce many toxins of which several are harmless, had already been seen in Antarctica.
However, Dr Ho found saxi and gymnotoxins in shellfish samples collected during a visit last December. These cause paralytic shellfish poisoning in Hong Kong.
Although the amounts found were 10 times lower than those that would cause sickness, ''[the work] shows that the toxic species have already spread to Antarctica'', he said.