Thailand Nets 1.3 Million Kilograms of Invasive Fish

This photograph taken on July 15, 2024 shows a man catching blackchin tilapia fish in a canal in Bangkok. (AFP)
This photograph taken on July 15, 2024 shows a man catching blackchin tilapia fish in a canal in Bangkok. (AFP)
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Thailand Nets 1.3 Million Kilograms of Invasive Fish

This photograph taken on July 15, 2024 shows a man catching blackchin tilapia fish in a canal in Bangkok. (AFP)
This photograph taken on July 15, 2024 shows a man catching blackchin tilapia fish in a canal in Bangkok. (AFP)

Thailand has netted more than 1.3 million kilograms of highly destructive blackchin tilapia fish, the government said Tuesday, as it battles to stamp out the invasive species.

Shoals of blackchin tilapia, which can produce up to 500 young at a time, have been found in 19 Thai provinces, damaging ecosystems in rivers, swamps and canals by preying on small fish, shrimp and snail larvae.

As well as the ecological impact, the government is worried about the effect on the kingdom's crucial fish-farming industry.

Fishing authorities caught 1,332,000 kilograms of blackchin tilapia between February and August 28, according to Nattacha Boonchaiinsawat, the vice-president of a parliamentary committee set up to tackle the spread of the fish.

"We talked to local residents and found out that the spread of tilapia has got worse -- they found them in small canals, which was not the case before," he told AFP.

The outbreak of tilapia will cost the Thai economy at least 10 billion baht ($293 million), Nattacha said.

The fish, native to West Africa, were first discovered in Thailand's rivers in 2010 before spreading rapidly in 2018, and are now also found in the US state of Florida and in the Philippines.

In July, the Thai government declared the eradication of the species a national priority and began encouraging people to consume the fish.

Promotional activities in central Phetchaburi province advertised tilapia-based fish sauces and sausages.

Restaurants have also increasingly used the fish in cuisine, fried with garlic or sun-dried.

It remains unclear how the fish arrived in Thailand, but local media reports have said they could have been imported by a company from Ghana in 2010.

A parliamentary investigation is under way to determine the cause of the infestation, Nattacha said.

The Thai government has encouraged locals to catch the fish, offering to pay people 15 baht ($0.42) per kilogram.

It has also designated 75 vending areas around the country where the fish can be sold.

Authorities have released predator species to hunt down the tilapia and are also developing genetically modified blackchin tilapia to produce sterile offspring.

A UN science panel warned last year that the tilapia are spreading faster than ever, wrecking crops, distributing disease and upending ecosystems.

More than 37,000 alien species have taken hold far from their places of origin, costing upwards of $400 billion a year in damages and lost income, the UN panel said.



China to Launch New Crewed Mission into Space This Week 

The combination of the Shenzhou-20 crewed spaceship and a Long March-2F carrier rocket is vertically transferred to the launching area in Jiuquan, China, 16 April 2025 (issued 17 April 2025). (EPA/Xinhua / Liu Fang)
The combination of the Shenzhou-20 crewed spaceship and a Long March-2F carrier rocket is vertically transferred to the launching area in Jiuquan, China, 16 April 2025 (issued 17 April 2025). (EPA/Xinhua / Liu Fang)
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China to Launch New Crewed Mission into Space This Week 

The combination of the Shenzhou-20 crewed spaceship and a Long March-2F carrier rocket is vertically transferred to the launching area in Jiuquan, China, 16 April 2025 (issued 17 April 2025). (EPA/Xinhua / Liu Fang)
The combination of the Shenzhou-20 crewed spaceship and a Long March-2F carrier rocket is vertically transferred to the launching area in Jiuquan, China, 16 April 2025 (issued 17 April 2025). (EPA/Xinhua / Liu Fang)

China is expected to launch a new crewed mission into space this week, as Beijing takes steady steps towards its goal of putting astronauts on the Moon.

The Shenzhou-20 mission will blast off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, carrying three astronauts to the country's self-built Tiangong space station for a likely six-month stay.

The team will undertake experiments to further the space program's ambitious aims to place astronauts on the Moon by 2030 and eventually build a lunar base.

The country's space agency said last week that the Shenzhou spaceship and its Long March-2F carrier rocket were transferred to a launch site at the remote desert base and would launch "at an appropriate time in the near future".

Photographs published by the Xinhua state news agency showed the sleek white rocket perched on a blue pedestal festooned with national flags, pointing towards the heavens, with red-and-gold banners hailing China's space program.

"At present, the launch site facilities and equipment are in good condition. The functional inspections and joint tests will be carried out as planned," the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said.

Authorities have not yet given details on the identities of the Shenzhou-20 astronauts or the work they will carry out.

Zhou Wenxing, a staff member at the country's astronaut training center, said the crew was "in good condition, precise in operation, and smooth in coordination", state broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday.

- 'Space dream' -

China's previous crewed mission, Shenzhou-19, launched last October and will reach its planned end date on April 29.

It is headed by Cai Xuzhe, a 48-year-old former air force pilot who served a previous stint aboard the Tiangong space station as part of the Shenzhou-14 mission in 2022.

Also among the crew is Wang Haoze, 35, who is China's only female spaceflight engineer and the third Chinese woman to take part in a crewed mission.

Song Lingdong, a 34-year-old man, completes the trio.

The Shenzhou-19 team has been carrying out tests to see how extreme radiation, gravity, temperature and other conditions affect "bricks" made from components imitating lunar soil, according to reports at the time of the launch.

Under President Xi Jinping, China has forged ahead with plans to achieve its "space dream".

Its space program was the third to put humans in orbit and has also landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon.

The jewel in the crown is Tiangong, the space station staffed by teams of three astronauts that are rotated every six months.

Beijing says it is on track to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030.

In recent decades, the country has poured billions of dollars into developing an advanced space program on par with the United States and Europe.

In 2019, it landed its Chang'e-4 probe on the far side of the Moon -- the first spacecraft ever to do so. In 2021, it landed a small robot on Mars.

Tiangong, whose core module, Tianhe, launched in 2021, is planned to be used for about 10 years.