The House of Representatives discussed the black-chinned tilapia motion.
Parliament, The House of Representatives discussed the black-chinned tilapia motion. The Move Forward Party slammed it, saying that if it is not discussed today, 'the government will definitely be yellow-chinned.' They dismissed it by raising the white flag and dissolving the parliament to flee if it is not resolved from this second. They slammed it as a national agenda, this life or the next. In the House of Representatives meeting, chaired by Mr. Pradipat Santipada, First Deputy Speaker of the House, an urgent motion was considered verbally, requesting the House of Representatives to consider solving the problem of black-chinned tilapia and managing invasive alien species, in order to forward it to the government for further consideration. This motion was made by Mr. Nattapong Sumanotam, MP for Samut Sakhon, Move Forward Party, Mr. Pitakdet Dechadecho, MP for Nakhon Si Thammarat, Democrat Party, and Mr. Natcha Boon-in-chaisawat, MP for Bangkok, Move Forward Party. Mr. Nattapong proposed the motion that he would like to warn the government that has always said that this issue must be a national agenda. He is not sure whether the national agenda will be in this life or the next. It is something that fishermen are wondering about. There was a promise to use the central budget, increase the budget, until the fishermen cheered, but today we have not seen it yet. If it is like this, can we ask for the cheers of the fishermen back? And this motion is important. Solving the problem is necessary, but finding someone to take responsibility is equally important. Let's not underestimate the anger and dissatisfaction of the people, or else you will say that I did not warn you. Mr. Natthaphong continued that today the law may not have reached that point yet and cannot be prosecuted, but the context and society can see what exactly caused the outbreak of the black chin tilapia to be a shared feeling among the people. Today, it has spread to 17 provinces. If it is allowed to continue, it is not certain that it will reach 70 provinces or not because the black chin tilapia has eaten away at the educational opportunities of the children of farmers, eating local fish, and eating away at the land titles of many villagers. Mr. Nattapong added that we must admit that this issue has been problematic since the process in 2006, which was a major issue. Even though there were reports of outbreaks abroad at that time, how were they allowed to be imported? Not to mention the problematic import conditions, such as cutting off fins and sending carcasses. In fact, the conditions were very weak because they should have been stricter. Even though the conditions were said to be weak, in the end, they were still not fully implemented. Therefore, I would like to ask the Prime Minister and the Minister of Agriculture not to just make it an event. They must do it continuously. They must also evaluate the results. They must also have a clear strategy. It is not like releasing them today and letting people come and catch them tomorrow. In the end, the fish that we intended to be hunters will become prey. It will be a waste of money and the country's budget. This should not be like that. Mr. Natthaphong said that including the issue of studying the induction of chromosomes, which makes black-chinned tilapia sterile, which must be seriously researched, he is afraid that if there is no scientific data, it will eventually create a bigger problem, including coordinating to request knowledge from abroad, we should take shortcuts, not try and make mistakes by ourselves, and we must talk about compensation, confirming that purchasing is not compensation because purchasing is an incentive to catch, but compensation is compensation for what they have been affected, and asked to keep an eye on other alien species because this issue has already been passed by 8 directors-general and 7 ministers, very much hoping that it will end in this era. Mr. Pitakdet proposed a motion that this problem was caused by smuggling or requesting permission to import for experiments, w hich may have leaked into public water sources, destroying the ecosystem, and damaging farmers' products. Today is a national agenda that the government must investigate the truth about how the black-chinned tilapia entered, why, who imported it, and how it spread. This is something that I must speak about, or the public will think that MP Pitakdet was silenced by a 28-baht bun. I confirm that no one can silence me, and the government must listen to this matter in order to resolve it, because it has been continuously spreading in neighboring provinces. Mr. Pitakdet continued that having fishermen go and eradicate the black-chinned tilapia using tools that can be used quickly, such as using electricity, is still stuck with the law in Thailand, which will take longer to resolve. Therefore, he would like to ask the government and the Department of Fisheries to amend the law and use faster methods of management. He hopes that what he said today will be something that the government does according to the people's expectations, and can solve the problem and investigate the facts of the importation of the black-chinned tilapia, leading to responsibility, compensation for the affected people, and control to prevent it from spreading further. Mr. Natcha Boonchaiinsawat, Bangkok MP of the Move Forward Party, who originally proposed a motion to set up a special committee to study the solution to the outbreak of black-chinned tilapia, but withdrew the motion and changed it to a proposal to solve the problem of the outbreak of black-chinned tilapia that affects the ecosystem instead, said that he wanted this issue to be solved quickly. Today, he was contacted that this motion would be submitted, but he heard that there was an attempt to prevent the motion from being submitted today. He said that it could not be done because the outbreak of black-chinned tilapia is increasing every second. If it is not submitted today, the government will definitely be yellow-chinned. So he said that if the motion is not submitted today, he w ould not accept it, but in the end, they agreed. Mr. Natcha continued that he would like to give a clear example that in society there are criticisms about big capital groups, illegal imports, which ultimately have a wide impact on our fellow citizens. If the previous government, during the past period, we could not deny that the most famous issue was the issue of illegal pigs, which spread widely. In the end, what would be the end? He would not go into details, or it would be a different story. But the reason he tried to communicate about the black-chinned tilapia is because no one is responsible, there is no source, and they do not know or see how it spread in villagers' ponds. 'However, the Prime Minister stated that the root cause must be found and the problem must be solved quickly. How many days have passed? Today, what is the cause of the problem? How did you deal with it? I would like to conclude that the current situation is about illegal fish. Let's see which is more serious, illegal pigs or illeg al fish. And this time, many academics have confirmed that this black-chinned tilapia species is the most severe outbreak. Will we allow the incomplete ecosystem to be passed on to our children? This government or we are representatives of the 17 provinces where the outbreak occurred? Do you just sit and listen to the news? Are you not thinking of doing anything today? Prime Minister Settha Thavisin spoke coolly that we must hunt down the truth. From that day until today, there are less than 24 hours left. I would like to ask how much information there is about who is the root cause. This is what the people want. I will wait and see what happens tomorrow (July 26) when 7 days have passed,' said Mr. Natcha. Mr. Nattha said that if this issue is not resolved quickly, every second today is meaningful. If we do not quickly approve the budget to help farmers and provide relief, this issue will not only be a problem for Thailand, but will be a regional problem. Therefore, we cannot wait. 'At this moment, you must take action, including the announcement of the zones in these 17 provinces. You must immediately announce which provinces will raise the red flag. Once they have been arrested, lower the red flag and raise the yellow and green flags to monitor and review whether the outbreak will return to red flags. But if you do not raise any flags, the government can raise the white flag and give up and dissolve the parliament,' said Mr. Natcha angrily. Then, members discussed and expressed their opinions in support of the motion, saying that the government must urgently solve the problem of the spread of the black-chinned tilapia and should have both short-term and long-term measures to prevent the impact on the people from being greater. Source: Thai News Agency