Fisheries Dept distributes 4.9m baht to 20 groups to make fermented blackchin

The Fisheries Department has distributed 4.9 million baht of an emergency budget to 20 groups in nine provinces to buy blackchin tilapia from local fishermen to be fermented for sale, the department chief said.

Bancha Sukkaew said the fermented-fish project was initiated under the order of Deputy Agriculture Minister Akara Prompow to help the department eradicate the alien fish species from water resources in the country.

Bancha said the Budget Bureau has allocated 4.9 million baht from the central emergency fund under fiscal 2024 for purchase of 200,000 kilogrammes of blackchin tilapia.

He said the department has allocated 250,000 baht each to 20 groups of local fishermen, community enterprises, housewives and cooperatives.

Bancha said the money has been allocated to five groups in Chumphon, four in Phetchaburi, four in Samut Prakan, two in Samut Songkhram, and one each in Prachin Buri, Ratchaburi, Chonburi, Rayong and Nonthaburi.

He said the department has set up a central committee and provincial panels to follow up on the project to make sure that the budget would be spent in accordance with the project’s objective.

Pichaya Chainak, director of the marine research and innovation division under the department, said her division would educate the four groups in Phetchaburi on Monday on how to make fermented fish from blackchin tilapia. The training sessions would be held for other participants in the project soon, she added.