A tour guide has been arrested on charges of hunting protected marine species after he allegedly picked a bunch of anemone, along with anemonefish, from the sea for display to a group of Chinese tourists.
The arrest of 32-year old tour guide, Aekkawat Meetem, a resident of the Sattahip district of Chon Buri, was ordered by Mr. Chatuporn Burutpat, director-general of the Marine and Coastal Resources Department, in response to a two-minute social media clip showing the suspect displaying the sea creatures to a group of tourists on a boat.
The clip has reportedly caused uproar among netizens, and police managed to track down the suspect.
During police questioning at Sattahip district police station, Aekkawat admitted that he did pick the anemone from the sea, without noticing the fish inside, because he was concerned it might die in the shallow water and he merely wanted to relocate it to deeper water, but during the process he showed it to the tourists.
Mr. Chatuporn, however, insisted that relocating anemone or catching anemonefish is against the law, adding that the case should serve a warning to other people that interfering with protected marine species in Thai waters could land you in legal trouble.
