The Biothai Foundation has claimed that it has sufficient evidence to prove that the current rapid spread of the Blackchin tilapia fish species in Thailand can be traced to one source, namely the Yeesarn fish farm in Ampawa district of Samut Sakhon, operated by Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF).
Witoon Lianjamroon, secretary-general of Biothai, told a seminar yesterday that CPF was the only private company permitted, by the Fisheries Department, to import Blackchin tilapia since 2010.
Citing reports from the department, he said the Yeesarn fish farm is surrounded by numerous canals, namely Don Jan, Luang, Jek, Somboon, Saphan Han, Tamon and Phi Lok in Yeesarn sub-district. The canals were the sources of water for the fish farm.
He further said that the National Human Rights Commission, which investigated the impacts on fishermen and fish farmers of the invasive fish species, had faulted the CPF’s Yeesarn fish farm for breaching bio safety protocols.
Apart from spreading into several canals in Ampawa district, Vitoon said the non-indigenous fish species has also spread into fish and shrimp farms in Samut Sakhon and neighbouring Phetchaburi province.
He said the public was misled into believing that all the 2,000 Blackchin tilapia imported by CPF were dead within 16 days of their arrival in Thailand, that all the dead fish were properly disposed of and that some preserved samples of dead fish had been sent to the Fisheries Department.
Biothai is the secretariat to the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Watch group, monitoring the development of FTAs with various other countries. It is responsible for the monitoring and analysis of the impacts of these agreements on intellectual property rights, biological resources and small-scale farmers.
