Suchat Demands Seven Days to Verify Black-Chin Tilapia Data, Insists Evidence Must Be Clear Before Prosecution
Minister Suchat Chomklin requested seven days to verify data on the destructive black-chin tilapia outbreak before pursuing prosecution, stating evidence must be clear and conclusive. The invasive species, imported from Ghana in 2006, has s
On May 25, 2025, at Parliament during a Senate session chaired by Senate President Mongkol Surasatjya, Senator Thawarit Manichaya raised an urgent question to Suchat Chomklin, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, about progress in investigating and prosecuting those responsible for damages caused by the black-chin tilapia outbreak throughout Thailand.
Senator Thawarit, representing Samut Songkhram Province—the origin point of the outbreak—explained that the outbreak began in 2006 when the Biodiversity and Biosafety Committee (IBC) of the Department of Fisheries authorized a company to import black-chin tilapia from Ghana. The infestation has since spread to Bueng Makkasan in Bangkok, becoming a national priority issue.
Thawarit noted that despite efforts to address the problem, identifying those responsible has been slow, with the outbreak expanding to 19 coastal provinces along the Gulf of Thailand. No government agency has yet filed charges against those who initiated the crisis. Only in early 2025 did residents of Samut Songkhram and Phetchaburi provinces organize a class-action lawsuit against the importing company.
Research from Thammasat University found that damage to farmers and local fisheries in just Praek Nam Daeng subdistrict alone reaches 131.96 million baht annually.
Senator Thawarit asked the minister about the investigation status under the Environmental Quality Promotion and Conservation Act B.E. 2535, Section 97, whether a timeline has been set, and what remedial and environmental restoration measures are planned. He emphasized that since government agencies themselves have documented evidence of ecological damage since August 2024, the public deserves to know who bears responsibility and who failed to prevent the widespread outbreak.
Minister Suchat acknowledged the timeline presented was accurate. Although he recently took office, he recalled that previous governments had allocated central budget funds to the Agriculture Ministry multiple times to address this issue. He identified the Department of Fisheries as the primary agency holding crucial data, since it approved the original import authorization.
