Pramono to Expand Sailfin Catfish Capture in Jakarta Rivers

Governor of DKI Jakarta Pramono Anung stated that the capture of sailfin catfish in several river flows in Jakarta will continue. He said the sailfin catfish capture operation will be expanded.

“So yesterday there were quite a few, but it’s impossible to finish it all at once. However, I believe this is something beneficial and provides a positive contribution,” Pramono said at the Jakarta East City Hall Office on Sunday (12/4/2026).

He stated that the abundance of sailfin catfish can damage the environmental embankments. He mentioned that sailfin catfish are predators that deplete food sources for native habitats such as wader fish and other species.

“Indeed, sailfin catfish are destructive, especially to the environmental embankments, and they act as predators because they consume all the food for other fish, thus depleting wader and other local fish,” he explained.

He explained that reducing the number of sailfin catfish must be continuously carried out. If not, he said, it will affect the community.

“If the capture and reduction of sailfin catfish numbers are not carried out immediately, this will certainly affect us,” he said.

Pramono requested that the capture operation in the Jakarta area be expanded. He mentioned that the capture is not only being conducted in Central Jakarta.

“So I will request that it’s not only in Central Jakarta, but in all areas where there are many sailfin catfish, we conduct operations. So we start with what was done at PI yesterday as the beginning,” he stated.

Previously, a joint team of 100 personnel from the DKI Agriculture, Food Security, and Maritime Affairs Office to the Central Jakarta Gulkarmat conducted a sailfin catfish capture operation in the Cideng River, right in front of Plaza Indonesia, Menteng. In that operation, officers successfully captured 41 large sailfin catfish, which have long been considered to disrupt the river ecosystem.

Head of the DKI Jakarta Agriculture, Food Security, and Maritime Affairs Office, Hasudungan A Sidabalok, said the capture was carried out to eradicate invasive fish. Similar actions have been conducted in the Ciliwung River.

“Previously, we also resolved a similar issue in the Ciliwung River,” Hasudungan said in a statement on Friday (10/4).