Jade perch: Is it a viable fish for Thailand?

Jade perch is among 13 aquatic animals that the Agriculture Ministry has prohibited farming of since 2021.

Yet cooked and fresh jade perch products were introduced at the Kaset Fair 2023 on Friday. The fair is being held at Kasetsart University’s Bang Khen campus until Saturday.

Premsak Wanuchsoontorn, CPF’s manager for aquaculture research and development, said jade perch is popular in many countries including China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia. He added that Vietnam and Malaysia have also started farming jade perch.

“The aim is to offer more alternatives to health-conscious people as jade perch has three times the amount of protein, collagen, docosahexaenoic acid [DHA] and Omega-3 fatty acids than salmon,” he said.

He said CPF is growing jade perch in a closed aquaculture system to stop it from entering the ecosystem. He added that there are still problems in farming the fish as it is vulnerable to illness.

“We are studying the farming of this fish more closely and believe it will become another aquatic animal that generates good revenue for Thai farmers,” he said.

Sombat Siripanwarporn, senior deputy director of CP Vietnam Corporation, said jade perch was imported from Australia and needs to be artificially inseminated because it is not suited to the Thai ecosystem.

"However, we have invented an easy way to inseminate the fish to help farmers,” he said, adding that this fish has a lot of meat and is highly nutritious.

However, Department of Fisheries director-general Chalermchai Suwanarak said CPF has only been given permission to study the aquaculture of jade perch since April last year. He said permission was given under the condition that jade perch farming only be conducted in “areas specified by the department” and “live fish cannot be moved to other areas without permission”.

He added that the department has allowed CPF to only sell processed products like frozen fish and only via company channels like CP Fresh Mart, Lotus’s and Makro.

CPF is also required to provide study results to the department periodically, he said.

He added that CPF’s move to advertise jade perch products commercially violated the department’s conditions.

The department has ordered CPF to suspend the advertisement of jade perch within three days, or face a ban on activities related to the fish, he added.

Vinij Tansakul, an independent academic in aquaculture development, said that even though the fish was imported legally, it is unclear whether it will have an impact on Thailand’s ecosystem because it is difficult to determine exactly what the fish consumes in this environment.

"Even though it is not predatory fish, it is known to consume a lot, and might harm other aquatic animals and plants,” he said.

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