Thailand is battling an outbreak of the "most invasive species" to ever hit the country -- one which risks enormous damage to the environment and the aquaculture sector, reports the BBC.

Blackchin tilapia continues to spread through Thailand's waterways, so far impacting 17 provinces.

Bangkok member of parliament Nattacha Boonchaiinsawat has estimated this latest outbreak is going to cost the Thai economy at least THB 10 billion ($293 million). The core problem is that the tilapia prey on small fish, shrimp, and snail larvae, which are among Thailand's important aquaculture products.

The Thai government has doubled the amount it will pay people who catch the fish to THB 15, and has also released the blackchin tilapia's predators -- Asian seabass and long-whiskered catfish -- to hunt them down.

Another plan has been to develop genetically modified tilapia that would produce sterile offspring, planning to release them as early as the end of this year in the hopes of stopping their population from exploding further.

As for the cause of the invasion, the BBC reports the Thai parliament has looked into an experiment by food behemoth Charoen Pokphand (CP) Foods run in 2010.

The company imported 2,000 blackchin tilapia from Ghana in late 2010; it said all the fish died and were buried properly. It has denied claims that some of the earliest outbreaks of tilapia were found near a CP facility and has threatened to sue those spreading what it calls "misinformation" on the matter.