Five companies have denied exporting blackchin tilapia, while the House Committee on Science, Technology, Research and Innovation estimates the invasive fish has caused up to 450 million baht of damage to farmers and the environment.
On Thursday, Praphan Leepayakhun, deputy director-general of the Department of Fisheries, was invited to attend a House committee meeting chaired by Takorn Tantasith.
Other attendees included representatives from five companies: Thai Qian Hu, Advance Aquatic, Samitra Aquarium Limited Partnership, P&P Aquarium World Trading and Asia Aquatics.
Three other companies did not respond to a request for them to attend.
According to the Department of Fisheries, 11 exporters sent 326,240 blackchin tilapia as ornamental fish to 17 countries, including Pakistan, Turkey, Kuwait, Azerbaijan, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States between 2013 and 2016. At the time, fish exports were controlled under the Animal Epidemics Act.
Exporters were only required to have an invoice or health certificate to export marine animals without the need to show the source of the fish.
However, a recent check revealed there were mistakes in filling information for export records involving 212 orders out of 24,000 involving the export of ornamental fish during the period. The department said different fish species were mislabeled as blackchin tilapia (Sarotherodon melanotheron).
"There was no export report on blackchin tilapia at that time. It was only an error in filing information," he said.
Despite the error in the paperwork, Mr Takorn, the chairman of the House committee, still wondered why the department focused on export records instead of investigating farmers' complaints about the spread of blackchin tilapia and finding the source.
The representatives of the five companies at the meeting also insisted they never exported the fish and brought along invoices and purchase orders from that period to present to the committee.
A subcommittee formed to resolve the problem has been told to compile a report for the House committee to conclude the matter, including the damage caused to farmers, people's livelihoods and the environment, which is estimated at about 450 million baht, he said.
The House committee will submit the report to Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives to allocate emergency funds to help those affected by the issue.
Meanwhile, Suwat Wongsuwat, Fisheries Department spokesman, said a project to process blackchin tilapia as liquid biofertiliser, has reportedly produced 155 tonnes of fertiliser from 168 tonnes of fish.
