Black chin tilapia is spreading heavily in canals and seas in Chumphon Province.

Chumphon, Black-chinned tilapia has spread heavily in Khlong Ilet and Khlong Tha Tapao, Tambon Tha Yang and Tambon Pak Nam Chumphon, including the Chumphon sea. Local fishermen say other animals have almost become extinct for a long time. Local fishermen along Khlong Ilet and Khlong Tha Taphao, Tambon Tha Yang and Tambon Pak Nam Chumphon have encountered the outbreak of black-chinned tilapia, which has actually been around for a long time, but has become more severe in the past two years. Villagers have been able to go out to catch fewer aquatic animals. They used to have fish, shrimp, and krill, but recently they have been able to catch almost only black-chinned tilapia, so they have had to adjust to catching black-chinned tilapia to sell to fishmeal factories. One of the fishermen said that in the area, there is only one factory that buys black-chinned tilapia at 6 baht per kilogram to make fish meal. Other factories do not buy them because they only have bones and little meat, but they have to do it bec ause they have been in the fishing profession for a long time and do not know what other profession they can do. Some people said that for many years, during the rainy season, the water does not flow into the sea. Fish and aquatic animals come to lay eggs in the Bang Siap Canal, Bang Son Subdistrict. But now everything in the canal is full of black-chinned tilapia. Mr. Jirawut Khampiroj, a fisheries expert at the Chumphon Fisheries Research and Development Center, revealed that at present, there are two outbreaks in Chumphon Province: canals and the sea. The center will take samples of the black-chinned tilapia found in the sea this time to dissect them to see what aquatic animals are inside the belly of the black-chinned tilapia, in order to develop methods for eradication. Source: Thai News Agency