CPF clarifies its blackchin tilapia import, handling to House panel

Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Company Limited (CPF) has submitted a detailed report to a House committee detailing every step of its import of 2,000 blackchin tilapia fingerlings from Ghana in 2010.

The document, submitted on Thursday, provides every detail, from the fish’s arrival in Thailand to their subsequent destruction and delivery of their remains to the Department of Fisheries, based on its recommendations.

Premsak Wanatsunthorn, CPF’s chief research and development officer for aquaculture, explained in the report that 2,000 blackchin tilapia, each weighing 1 gram, were imported from Ghana on December 22, 2010.
After a 35-hour journey, the fish arrived in Suvarnabhumi Airport, where they were quarantined and inspected by fisheries officers.

A significant number of the fingerlings were found dead upon arrival, and by the time the fish arrived at the farm, only 600 survived but were in poor condition. These fish were placed in cement ponds but continued dying due to poor health.

Due to an insufficient number of healthy fish for research, CPF consulted with fisheries officers responsible for approval of the import. The officers advised preserving the samples in formalin and sending them to the Department of Fisheries. In the second week of their arrival, 50 fish were preserved.

By the time the third week rolled around on January 6, 2011, only 50 fish were alive. These were then destroyed by adding chlorine to the pond, followed by a 24-hour soak in formalin before they were buried in lime.

The fish had only managed to live for 16 days in Thailand.

CPF reported the fish deaths and destruction to the Department of Fisheries and sent two jars of preserved fish (25 fish per jar) to a department official called Siriwan that week.

Siriwan had reportedly assigned another official to receive the samples, and this official did not ask the CPF representative to fill out any forms, leading the company to believe that the handover was complete.

Six years later, the National Human Rights Commission reported an invasion of blackchin tilapia in Samut Songkhram’s waterways.

In response, the Department of Fisheries inspected the CPF's Yi San farm in Amphawa District on August 1, 2017, and found no sign of blackchin tilapia. However, the fish was found in the farm’s R2 water reservoir connected to a natural water source. This reservoir was the farm’s water filtration system.

Since the reservoir is connected to a natural water source, fish can be present on both sides because they are connected. However, this fish could not enter the farm’s aquaculture system.

Meanwhile, Premsak has insisted that CPF has not conducted any research or breeding of blackchin tilapia since the failed effort in 2011. Though CPF is confident that it did not have a hand in the alien species’ invasion, it has said it will cooperate with government efforts to get rid of the predatory creatures.