Four suspects have been arrested in Samut Songkhram after they allegedly took foreign tourists on an illegal fishing trip for endangered giant freshwater stingrays, after a video of the expedition in Mae Klong River went viral on Facebook Live.
Samut Songkhram Governor Khanchat Tansathian said the illegal fishing of giant freshwater stingrays was strictly forbidden unless there was special permission from the Fisheries Department.
Khanchat said he had ordered officers to investigate after he was informed on Monday that a video on the Facebook account of Benchawan Thiansungnoen showed tourists catching the giant stingrays.
The officers found the boat that appeared in the live broadcast anchored in front of a house in Tambon Suanluang in Amphawa district and found four men inside.
One of the suspects said that they had been hired by another man referred to only as “Boy” to organise a fishing trip for foreign tourists and claimed that they had permission to catch stingray for research purposes.
However, officers found that the permission had expired in November 2016, so they were fishing illegally.
Regulations allow for stingrays to be caught for research purposes with the permission of the Fisheries Department director-general.
Bandit said that after tourists caught a stingray, they often brought the fish out of the water and took a selfie with it, with the fish often being injured in the process.
She added that she had employed the suspects as her crew during research last year.
“I have seen the pictures of the giant freshwater stingrays that have been caught by tourists.