It is a positive development for local fishermen that the problem of invasive blackchin tilapia has returned to the public's attention courtesy of the censure debate against Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
The nonnative fish have been found in 19 provinces and coastal areas, a concern for local fishery businesses who fear it could replace local species.
The Department of Fisheries (DoF) has banned imports of the fish except for research, for good reason.
The resilient species is native to tropical African regions and can live in fresh, brine, and seawater. It will eat away all local species and plankton before mating and colonising long stretches of waterways.
On Monday, Nattacha Boonchaiinsawat, a Bangkok MP for the opposition People's Party (PP), grilled Ms Paetongtarn during the censure debate, criticising her and the DoF for failing to contain the spread of the fish. "Government solutions are so limited and unsuited to the scale of the problem. It is like a doctor giving painkillers to a cancer patient," he said of DoF efforts against the fish that were launched two years ago.
Mr Nattacha also accused the prime minister and officials of failing to find the culprits behind how the fish entered the kingdom's waterways. Instead, local communities must go to court to address the matter themselves.
Early this month, the Bangkok South Civil Court accepted a class action lawsuit against Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc (CPF) for 2.4 billion baht in compensation. Local fishermen in 18 other provinces will file a similar lawsuit against the company.
CPF is the sole permitted importer of the fish. Over 14 years ago, the company imported it to conduct breeding research at a facility in Samut Songkram province. The company has publicly denied involvement in the spread of the fish into the waterways.
Many years ago, local fishermen in Samut Sonkran complained about the spread of the invasive fish. In 2017, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) launched a probe that found that the DoF "was not deliberately negligent" in the tilapia disaster but merely "failed in its duty to ensure that the agro giant had abided by the rules".
The biggest problem now is how to contain the fish's ongoing spread and prevent further damage to the country's rich biodiversity.
At the censure debate, the prime minister said the government had just approved an additional 90 million baht budget to address the blackchin tilapia, in addition to the previous 400 million baht approved earlier. Yet, the money alone will not solve the problem. Ms Paetongtarn must make the spread of blackchin tilapia an urgent priority.
Instead of letting DoF continue as it has, a special committee chaired by neutral experts, affected communities, and officials must be established to monitor the fish's spread and restore our waterways' ecology.
Needless to say, ministries must find the culprit instead of letting local people go to court.
It would be unthinkable if the blackchin tilapia continued to invade Thai waterways. As the nation's leader, Ms Paetongtarn cannot be complacent; she must take the lead and contain the damage.
