PHNOM PENH: The Ministry of Agriculture has banned the import, export and farming of the carnivorous piranha to protect Cambodian wildlife. The ministry noted that any piranhas already present in the country must never be released into the wild and must be handed over to the Fisheries Administration.

On August 6, the Fisheries Administration confiscated and destroyed multiple tanks of piranhas after a fish vendor posted to social media about his special inventory. His posts were reported to the Ministry of Agriculture who destroyed the fish and made the vendor sign an agreement to stop importing the South American species in addition to destroying any remaining stock of the fish.

Piranhas are a tropical freshwater fish native to South America and while they are not known to migrate, release from private owners poses a huge risk to Southeast Asian wildlife.

The ministry released a press statement on August 13 detailing the incident and calling on all traders and members of the public to cease imports of the deadly fish, which could potentially wreak havoc on local wildlife, humans and the environment. The government also requested tips from anyone with information regarding the illegal farming and selling of the fish to prevent their spread in an environment which already faces so many challenges in protecting its native biodiversity.