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Phuket police bust fish poaching ring

Some of the tropical fish found in the house in Rawai, Phuket, which had been caught by stunning them with cyanide.

RAWAI, PHUKET: Phuket Marine Police officers busted a tropical fish poaching ring on Tuesday, seizing hundreds of valuable aquarium fish and coral blooms from a house in Rawai.

Police said the owner of the house, Suthee Sirisaringkarn, hired local fishermen to illegally catch the fish, many of which were worth up to 2,000 baht each.

Around 200 living coral blooms and around 400 tropical fish and other creatures were found in tanks in the house, including butterflyfish, wrasses, parrotfish, damselfish, angelfish and giant clams.

Mr Suthee, 34, from Bangkok, told police he planned to send the creatures to Chiang Mai to sell to collectors.

He has been charged with possession of protected species and possession of tropical fish without permission from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

All of the seized creatures are being kept by the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources at its center at Cape Panwa.

Prajuap Mokarat, a DMCR officer, said the fish ranged in value from 500 to 2,000 baht.

“They caught most of them at the coral reefs around Koh Racha and Koh Khai,” he said.

Mr Prajuap said this kind of poaching ring had been uncovered many times before but arrests were rarely made because it was difficult to get the evidence required to get a search warrant issued by the court.

Another DMCR staff member said some of the fish were sick with cyanide poisoning.

“Some of them are dying because whoever caught them used cyanide to stun them so they’d float to the surface and be easy to catch,” she said.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated case, a man was arrested on Wednesday night in Phang Nga province for attempting to smuggle coral blooms.

Takua Pa Police received a tip-off that the man had boarded a bus heading to Bangkok at Takua Pa bus station with a foam-wrapped crate containing the coral.

Police arrested the man and have charged him with illegal possession of protected species.

More than 180 coral blooms were recovered, including anchor coral and cup coral.

PHUKET: A green sea turtle rescued near Phuket  in April this year has finally been given its freedom.

The turtle, thought to be about 50 years old, was almost a meter long and weighed a massive 120kg.

It was rescued off Koh Bon during an early morning raid by Phuket-based marine inspectors who had been tipped off about an illegal fishing operation.

The turtle, the largest found in Phuket waters in more than 10 years, had been tied to an anchor line by one of its flippers.

Its captors fled and left it to die to avoid being captured.

Marine inspectors managed to rescue the badly injured turtle before it drowned.

They took it to the Phuket Marine Biological Center (PMBC), where vets repaired an 11cm gash in its carapace and nursed it back to good health.

Marine officials organized a special farewell party for the giant turtle, nicknamed ‘loong’ (’uncle’), before releasing it back into the sea at Cape Panwa last Saturday morning.

More than 200 people turned out to watch the turtle swim to freedom.

Meanwhile a second green turtle was found dead on Patong Beach on Friday.

The animal, dead for four or five days before it was found, was around 20 years old and weighed about 40kg.

PMBC vet Patcharaporn Kaewmorng said she suspected the cause of death was something the animal ate, though further tests would need to confirm this.

The animal was sent to the PMBC for examination.

– Kitima Pornmongkhonwat

From the Phuket Gazette
http://www.phuketgazette.net/news/index.asp?id=7617