CP Foods no-show at panel meet on alien fish

Says never to blame for fish war

A committee in the House of Representatives has criticised Charoen Pokphand Foods ( CPF ) for not responding to questions about the importation of blackchin tilapia for research in 2010.

Nattacha Boonchaiinsawat, a Move Forward Party MP for Bangkok and deputy president of the committee investigating the spread of the invasive species, said CPF was invited to a committee meeting to define a report the Department of Fisheries provided.

But, before yesterday’s meeting, the business submitted a notice of absence to the assistant’s office.

” I want the business to use the stage to speak with the people as the community grows skeptical about the issue,” said Mr. Nattacha.

According to Mr. Nattacha, the House committee will decide the next step based on information from government authorities, including the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and the Fisheries Department.

The Council of State may be asked to provide advice on possible claims to government agencies starting next week. Reputable organizations will also be asked to evaluate the environmental harm the invasive species, which has had a negative impact on many ranches, has caused.

Mr. Nattacha added that the Fisheries Department claimed that the CPF, the only company to grant permission to buy the species, had violated the terms of its force that was requested in 2010.

Pension informed the agency that the bass had already perished within three days of being imported to Thailand. The organization was therefore required to send 50 bass bones to the district’s test, but an analysis found no such examples.

” It is improbable that, of all 5, 000 samples from 2007 to 2017 kept in the laboratory, only specimens from 2011 would get lost during a flood”, he said.

The committee will provide information to appropriate organizations for legal action, according to the deputy chairman.

Pension explained its method for bringing 2, 000 blackchin fish fingerlings from Ghana to Thailand in a statement released yesterday.

According to Premsak Wanuchsoontorn, Executive Vice-President for Aquaculture Business at CPF, the bass arrived at Suvarnabhumi airports on Dec 22, 2010.

Many of the bass died during travel, while the remaining 600 were in poor health. By Jan 6, 2011, just 50 seafood remained alive, he said.

The CPF made the decision to end the job by removing all remaining carp with chlorine. On January 7, their bones were dug in salt.

Mr. Premsak argued that the CPF had not conducted any fish studies since January 2011 and that it had never attempted to transbound Thai waters.