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.



Thousands protest against Overtourism in Spain's Canary Islands

 People gather during a demonstration calling for a change in the tourism model in the Canary Islands, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, May 18, 2025. (Reuters)
People gather during a demonstration calling for a change in the tourism model in the Canary Islands, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, May 18, 2025. (Reuters)
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Thousands protest against Overtourism in Spain's Canary Islands

 People gather during a demonstration calling for a change in the tourism model in the Canary Islands, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, May 18, 2025. (Reuters)
People gather during a demonstration calling for a change in the tourism model in the Canary Islands, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, May 18, 2025. (Reuters)

Thousands of people protested against mass tourism in Spain's Canary Islands on Sunday, urging authorities to limit the number of visitors to protect local residents from soaring housing costs, traffic congestion and overburdened services.

Marching under the banner "Canaries have a limit", demonstrators took to the streets in all of the archipelago's main islands and in several cities in mainland Spain. Some chanted about the effects of tourism on water supplies.

"Tourism is very important for the Canary Islands, but we have to realize that the collapse is total," Juan Francisco Galindo, a hotel manager in Tenerife, told Reuters.

His father owns a small island property on which the local administration issued an expropriation order in 2023 due to the approval of a luxury hotel complex project.

"Those 70 square meters (750 square feet) that they want to expropriate are all my father has. His health situation has deteriorated since this happened," he said.

More than 1 million foreign tourists visit the Canary Islands each month, compared to a local population of 2.2 million, according to official data.

Spain, which had a record number of tourist arrivals in 2024, expects even more visitors this year.

Galindo said the number of hotel beds had tripled since the 1970s when the islands' infrastructure was built, leading to sky-rocketing housing costs, traffic jams and limited access to health services during peak tourism season.

Spain has witnessed several protests against overtourism in other popular holiday destinations, including Mallorca, Barcelona and Malaga. Similar demonstrations were held in the Canaries last year.

Sirlene Alonso, a lawyer who lives in Gran Canaria, criticized the regional government's plans to build more housing instead of limiting tourist numbers.

"The goal is not tourism quality, but that more and more tourists come. The number of tourists and people who come to live here is crushing us," she said.

Canary Island officials travelled this week to Brussels to seek European Union funds for affordable housing in the region's outermost areas.