Samut Sakhon fights to save ecosystem from blackchin tilapia invasion

Samut Sakhon will seek funds from the Fisheries Department to buy up all the blackchin tilapia villagers have to ensure the alien species does not damage the delicate ecosystem.

Vice Agriculture Minister Dr Manita Klubbankoh spoke to reporters on Tuesday after she oversaw a campaign by the Samut Sakhon fisheries office to catch blackchin tilapia from canals in the province.

She said Agriculture Minister Thamanat Prompow had visited the province on February 2 to kick off a campaign to rid the area of blackchin tilapia.

The Fisheries Department had been allocated funds to purchase the fish at 8 baht per kilo from villagers, but Manita said the department now only has funds to buy another 10 tonnes of the fish. Hence, she said, the Samut Sakhon fisheries office is seeking more funding.

On Tuesday, Manita oversaw an operation rallying locals to catch blackchin tilapia in the Tha Raeng canal in Samut Sakhon’s Ban Phaeo district.

She was informed that officials and local fishermen had caught 315 tonnes of blackchin tilapia from rivers and canals in Samut Sakhon from February 15 to June 30.

This fish originates from Africa and according to Isra News Agency, CP Foods imported 2,000 blackchin tilapia in 2010. However, CP Foods reported to the Fisheries Department that the fish had died within three weeks of being brought to Thailand and had been buried.

In 2012, farmers in Samut Sakhon’s Amphawa district spotted the alien fish for the first time in their ponds for breeding prawns and fish. The blackchin tilapia then spread quickly to nearby water resources.

In March 2018, the Fisheries Department announced it was banning the import, export and breeding of blackchin tilapia.

Apart from Samut Sakhon, this alien fish was also found in several provinces in the South, including Songkhla and Nakhon Si Thammarat.