It seems that for the residents of the Mekong Delta, the flood season is a special season, it is not spring, summer, autumn, winter, nor is it the dry season or the rainy season. Putting the word “return” when mentioning the flood season, it is like the residents’ expectation for a friend from afar.
At the end of the week, I heard my mother's voice ringing on the phone, saying that this year the flood waters came earlier and were higher than last year, and then asked me if I wanted to eat more snakehead fish sauce, that last year's batch of fish was edible this year, although she was still wondering "I wonder if there will be enough fish to make fish sauce for you guys, because last year there was very little!".
The flood season in my childhood memories suddenly came back.
I remember around the 7th lunar month, the villagers were already preparing to welcome the pouring rains. They fixed their nets, traps, boats… waiting for the fish to return with the tide, watching the water surface overflowing the fields every day to predict whether the water level would be high or low.
Wherever you go, you hear stories about the flood season of the past, and of last year, stories that are told every year but every year are as fun as hearing them for the first time. When the water rises, people are excited to catch a lot of fish, but hardly anyone worries about high water or floods.
Associate Professor, Dr. Le Anh Tuan, an expert on climate change in the Mekong Delta, said that the phrase “flood season” of the Mekong Delta people is a folk concept that has existed since the formation of this land.
In fact, the phenomenon of rising water here is scientifically called a flood. In Cambodia, there is also a similar phenomenon of rising water in the Mekong Delta, but your country still calls it a flood.
Flooded fields, people push poles to catch fish and shrimp during the flood season in Soc Trang. Photo: Trung Hieu
And now in documents and weather forecasts in Vietnam, the word flood or flood season is also used instead of flood season. However, "the characteristics of floods in the Mekong Delta are different from those in mountainous areas, so in the North and Central regions, floods may be a natural disaster," said Mr. Tuan.
According to Mr. Tuan, compared to floods in the Central region, the water rises very quickly and flows rapidly, the water flow is also very short, the water cannot drain, forming a flash flood phenomenon. People do not have time to respond, wherever the flood comes, it destroys crops and property.
In the Mekong Delta, the lower Mekong River has three "water pockets", namely Tonle Sap Lake, Dong Thap Muoi area and Long Xuyen Quadrangle.
Every year when the flood comes from upstream, these three water bags regulate the water here - during the flood season, they "store water" to create a gentle flood, then slowly release water to replenish the Tien and Hau rivers to help push out the salt water. Just like that, the water rises slowly, flows through the river, and overflows the fields.
"Wherever the water rises, people live with the natural flow of the flood, so although it causes damage, it is not much compared to the benefits it brings, so people here are looking forward to it," the expert further explained.
Professor Chung Hoang Chuong, a researcher on the Mekong River, said that the flood season is not only a natural phenomenon but also an indispensable part of the lives of people in the South.
Farmers here do farming, gardening, and fishing. With their high adaptability to the weather, they often see the flood season as an opportunity to change their way of making a living.
When the water returns, the fields are filled with alluvium and bring new life to the water lilies, reed grass, water chives, and the yellow flowers of the sesbania trees along the rivers and canals. This is also the season when flocks of birds return to nest, breed, and flourish in the fields, bamboo groves, and in the cajuput and mangrove forests.
In areas like Soc Trang, Hau Giang, Bac Lieu, the tide often comes late and income from aquatic resources is not as high as in the Long Xuyen Quadrangle and Dong Thap Muoi.
In those days, we, the naughty children, played according to the season. We enjoyed the fields flooded with water, because we could not see the shore so it looked like the vast ocean, something that the children of the plains longed to see.
The sea was not blue but had the black color of alluvium and mother earth. We made our own fishing rods and used old nets, then we dived into the fields, swinging the water and the gun to catch fish. For dinner that evening, the children were also given fish typical of the lower region such as perch, goby, and sometimes a few greedy snakehead fish.
In recent years, people have been less busy because the water level at the source is low, the water in the fields is very little and late, and the aquatic resources have greatly decreased.
Many families no longer make a living from the flood season, except for those who live mainly from farming. Local authorities in many places have also come up with many models to help people adapt to the new situation, when the flood season is "not rising and erratic".
Having lived in Ward 2, Nga Nam Town, Soc Trang Province for nearly 55 years, Mr. Duong Van Lam said: “In the past, during the flood season, out of ten households here, they made a living by fishing, netting, setting traps, and pushing sticks. Over the past five years, there have been at most 1 or 2 households left, but they only caught a few fish to fill their meals, because now no one makes a living from this job anymore.”
In My Tu district, Nga Nam town, Soc Trang province, many livelihood models during the flood season have been implemented and brought about efficiency for many households such as the cage fish model, the anchovy model, the rice-fish model, growing water chestnut instead of rice...
Mr. Lam is one of the farmers who has adapted to the changes of the flood season with the rice-fish model. Using 4,000 square meters of rice production, he started releasing fish from the 5th lunar month, with a rearing period of about six months to harvest.
The rice-fish model mainly utilizes food directly on the rice fields, while also helping to improve the soil. It is estimated that this year's farming season, after deducting expenses, the family will earn an additional few tens of millions of dong.
This year, the Southern region is bustling, the rain is relatively more abundant than previous years, the water level is high (*). My mother said it must be because of the Year of the Dragon.
Although happy because the fields are irrigated, helping to remove acidity, wash away alum, kill pathogens, and build up alluvium, Mom is still worried because the amount of fish and shrimp is still not much. However, to Mom, "looking out at the fields this season is so much fun!"
It seems that the presence of surface water, after all, may be a “cultural space” that shapes the people and this land.
Perhaps, my mother, like the people in my hometown, did not understand much about climate change, and did not know how serious the consequences of unusually heavy rains would be. Whenever the water level rose higher, my mother was happy, because according to her, if the flood season was high, the following winter-spring crop would be a bumper crop.
Source: https://danviet.vn/nuoc-tran-dong-vung-dau-nguon-mien-tay-dan-soc-trang-day-con-bat-ca-loc-dong-mam-loc-dong-ngon-20241112100811795.htm
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