A competition to net ikan bandaraya at Sungai Damansara hauled 1,142kg of the fish. — Filepic
SINCE the launch of an operation to trap an invasive fish species, four tonnes of suckermouth catfish (known locally as ikan bandaraya) have been caught in Sungai Langat.
The operation by Selangor government has seen trapping efforts conducted every weekend since September, said state infrastructure and agriculture committee chairman Izham Hashim.
“We are seeing a decline in the amount of ikan bandaraya caught in recent weeks compared to when the operation started.
“From 600kg to 700kg per week, we are now seeing only between 200kg and 300kg of ikan bandaraya a week,” he said during a press briefing on flood mitigation projects at the state secretariat building in Shah Alam.
The trapping operation would be expanded to other state rivers to curb the invasive fish species’ population in Selangor, Izham said.
“We are looking at Sungai Damansara as our next target location but we will retain the operation at Sungai Langat.
“We will also offer a reward of RM1 per kilogramme of the fish caught,” he said, adding that the offer would continue until the allocation was exhausted.
On Aug 27, StarMetro reported that RM50,000 had been set aside for the initiative.
It was also reported that about one tonne of ikan bandaraya was caught during a competition at Sungai Damansara.
A similar event held at Sungai Langat in April produced 700kg of ikan bandaraya.
These efforts by Selangor government and Fisheries Department aim to preserve the biodiversity of rivers in the state.
The department had reportedly released over 1.11 million native fish, including freshwater prawns and ikan lampam (tinfoil barb), into rivers over the past five years.
During an event in June, Izham warned that the ikan bandaraya species was becoming dominant in Sungai Langat, Sungai Klang and Sungai Selangor.
He said these fish were also a threat as their rapid breeding rate posed a significant risk of surpassing native fish populations.
