In 2000, the Government of India banned the import and farming of African catfish, Clarias gariepinus, after ecologists flagged what it does to freshwater ecosystems. The fish is still here. It is in the Yamuna, in Kerala's backwaters, in wetlands across Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, and in farm ponds that connect to open water every monsoon. The ban stopped new imports. It did not stop the fish already in the ground.
