At a press conference following the arrest, Pol Col Montree Penchaler, Superintendent of Phuket Marine Police, and Thanate Mannoy, Director of the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, named the man as Boonseuan Raknawa, 41.
He was arrested while loading the fish onto a bus bound for Bangkok and was charged with stealing fish including Combtooth Blenny, Sleepy Goby, Cleaning Wrasse, Tawny Nurse Shark and starfish – many of them protected species – from the wild.
Boonseuan told policemen he knew nothing about them being protected species. His job was only to take them to the bus station, for which he received B1,000 a load.
His arrest came after an investigation into an earlier arrest on New Year’s Eve when a consignment of exotic fish on a Bangkok-bound bus was seized at the Tah Chat Chai checkpoint.
Mr Thanate said that the illegal trade in protected species is increasing these days, thanks to demand from aquarium owners. While the loss of one fish from the sea might not seem to amount to much, he warned, the volume of sea animals stolen for the exotic fish trade is causing severe damage to the marine ecology.
Exotic reef fish can sell for hundreds or even thousands of dollars, making plundering them from the sea extremely lucrative.
Traders have to be caught before they can take the fish off the island. Once the fish are on the mainland it is impossible for officials to prove where they came from and, therefore, whether they were obtained illegally.
The maximum penalty for trading in protected species is a year in jail or a B100,000 fine, or both.