Samut Songkhram, A former owner of a 20-rai shrimp farm found a black-chinned tilapia infestation, eating all the shrimp in the pond, causing huge losses and having to turn to collecting bottles to make a living.According to the data, Samut Songkhram Province was the first province to find the outbreak of the black-chinned tilapia, and it spread to many provinces in the central and eastern regions. Recently, villagers began to find it in the southern region, causing suffering for aquatic animal farmers and fishermen. The outbreak first occurred in Phraek Nam Daeng Subdistrict, Amphawa District, Samut Songkhram Province, around 2011. Villagers spread word by word of mouth that a company had brought this species of fish to experiment with breeding in the area. During that time, many Nile tilapia and red tilapia died, so they sought a solution and experimented with bringing in 'black-chinned tilapia' from the African continent to help develop the species, hoping that it would become a new economic fish. Howev er, it has become a problem at this time. Villagers in the area, including the Upper Gulf of Thailand Conservation Network and the Mae Klong Lovers Community Network, want the government to urgently solve the problem and cooperate with the villagers seriously, or make the solution of the black-chinned tilapia a national agenda, and join hands with the large company that caused the problem to share responsibility, because the import violated the rights of the villagers, so they must share responsibility as well.Mr. Ruean, a 77-year-old former shrimp farm owner from Phraek Nam Daeng sub-district, had to give up on shrimp farming, which he had been doing for over 50 years, and turned to collecting bottles to sell to make a living. Previously, he rented a shrimp farm of over 20 rai, which provided a good income. At first, there were some problems with water pollution, but there were still times when he could catch shrimp and fish to generate income. But recently, the black-chinned tilapia has become more preval ent. Every time he bailed out the pond, he only got black-chinned tilapia. Day by day, his capital kept sinking. He fought for several years, but finally he gave up.Source: Thai News Agency