Blackchin Tilapia Sparks Major Disaster, Neighbouring Country of Indonesia Declares Emergency

Thailand’s Central Administrative Court on Tuesday ordered the Department of Fisheries and its director-general to immediately eradicate the invasive blackchin tilapia species from Thai waters. The court further instructed the Ministry of Interior to declare Samut Songkhram province a disaster emergency area.

Citing the Bangkok Post on Tuesday (15/9/2026), Poramet Daendongying of the Thai Lawyers Council said the firm order was contained in a ruling on a public petition. The court decided that the Department of Fisheries and its leadership bore direct responsibility for sustained efforts to halt the spread of the highly ecosystem-damaging fish species, which originates from Africa.

Specifically, the court also ordered the Interior Minister to instruct the Governor of Samut Songkhram — the province facing directly onto the Gulf of Thailand — to declare the area a disaster emergency zone. This legal step is required so that the government can swiftly allocate budget funds to compensate economically affected residents.

The court emphasised that so far Samut Songkhram is the only area under disaster emergency status. This was based on the fact that 54 of the total complainants in the environmental crisis case came from that province.

Meanwhile, Poramet revealed that the court had dismissed charges against 16 other government parties from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, and the Ministry of Finance, which had previously been named in the complaint. The complainants had earlier accused these state agencies of negligence or of acting too slowly in taking legal action against the importers of the blackchin tilapia.

“This is a first-instance court ruling and I expect there will be an appeal,” he said.

Another representative of the Lawyers Council, Sittiporn Lelanapasak, added that 10 of the complainants in this case are among the community group that has filed a separate civil lawsuit. They are demanding damages of more than 2 billion baht from those responsible for allowing the import of the pest fish into Thailand.

“The lawsuit seeks compensation for around 1,000 affected farmers in Samut Songkhram,” he said.