Jakarta. Indonesia’s Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries has requested Rp 26 trillion ($1.6 billion) in funding from state wealth fund Danantara to support a large-scale aquaculture revitalization project along the northern coast of Java.

The initiative targets the rehabilitation of 78,550 hectares of shrimp and fish ponds, to be carried out in three phases.

Haeru Rahayu, the ministry’s Director General of Aquaculture, said the first phase will cover 20,000 hectares of state-owned land designated as a "Food Security Forest Area" under a Forestry Ministry permit.

“We have submitted a formal proposal to Danantara for around Rp 26 trillion to fund this project. We are now waiting for the opportunity to present the details,” Haeru said.

First Phase in West Java
The initial phase will focus on four regencies in West Java: Bekasi, Karawang, Subang, and Indramayu. Coordination is underway with local governments and West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi.

Haeru stressed the project’s potential to generate employment, estimating that the first phase alone could create 40,000 jobs, assuming two workers are needed per hectare.

“Beyond direct employment, the project also offers upstream-to-downstream business opportunities -- from hatcheries and feed production to product processing and distribution,” he added.

Indonesia, with its 6.4 million square kilometers of territorial waters, is one of the world’s largest producers of capture fisheries. However, aquaculture has increasingly outpaced wild catch in recent years.

In 2023, total fisheries production reached 23.5 million tons, of which only 6.5 million tons came from capture fisheries, with the rest supplied by aquaculture. The sector contributed 2.7 percent to Indonesia’s GDP that year.