Head of Thanh Duc 2 residential group, Pho Thanh ward (Duc Pho town, Quang Ngai province) Vo Ngoc Duyen said that in the past, everyone here was a fisherman, so it was called Cau hamlet. Many wealthy people built big boats and invited fishing friends to fish together in the distant seas.
Fishing life
Late in the afternoon, Mr. Nguyen Giao, in Thanh Duc 2 residential group, Pho Thanh ward, sat on the porch of his house, neatly arranging fishing lines and hooks in a basket.
After dinner, the whole family gathered to bait the hooks with shrimp. At about 2am the next morning, he and his two sons carried their equipment to the shore of Nuoc Man lagoon and put them on a wooden boat with a small engine.
The engine roared, the boat turned its bow toward the ocean through the windy Sa Huynh estuary. In the distance, the lights on the fishing boat bobbed in the open sea. The wind blew across the night sea, cold against the skin. The boat cut through the waves and headed out to sea.
About 7 nautical miles from shore, Mr. Giao slowed down, the boat moved slowly, swaying on the waves. The two children quickly dropped their fishing lines as dawn gradually appeared in the distance. The electric light on the boat illuminated the pale blue wire gradually sinking into the water.
Hooks attached to fishing lines are tied to the lines, about two arm spans apart. Each long fishing rig has several foam buoys floating on the water surface.
Many fishing rigs are connected together with a length of more than 5 nautical miles, including thousands of bait hooks to attract hungry fish.
Fishermen in Duc Pho town, Quang Ngai province practice fishing at sea.
After fishing, Mr. Giao and his son opened the rice package they brought from home to eat. The white rice and salty braised fish cooked by his wife's skillful hands helped relieve the fatigue after hours of drifting on the waves.
Mr. Nguyen Chau My, son of Mr. Nguyen Giao, follows his father in the fishing profession.
Then the boat started the engine, overcoming the waves and wind playing with each other on the sea. Mr. Giao steered the boat back to the original fishing spot. The two children rhythmically pulled the line out of the water.
Their faces were radiant with the tangs, scads, and pike perch that were caught and struggling when they were pulled out of the water. They quickly removed the fish and put them in ice boxes to keep the seafood fresh. After a while, the fishing rigs were pulled out of the water.
The boat turned its bow toward the shore. The village gradually came into view. Arriving at the Sa Huynh fishing port, traders were waiting to buy fish to ship to market. Mr. Giao and his two children saved the fresh fish to bring home to prepare food for a family meal full of the flavor of the sea.
"Fishing is very hard, man! Usually we get back to the dock after 1pm, but sometimes we have to wait until almost dark, and there are times when we encounter dangerous storms. Now, we catch less fish than before, but in return, we sell them at a high price. On a lucky day, each person earns 500,000 VND, usually a couple hundred thousand VND," Mr. Giao confided.
A time of prosperity
At the age of 85, Mr. Phan Van Cuc is quite lucid, telling clearly about the village, especially the fishing profession here. Previously, fishermen in the village made a living by fishing at sea.
At night, they hang bright lights to attract fish and squid to bite the bait, hook it onto a fishing line attached to a bamboo pole... Then, fishermen switch to net fishing with hundreds of hooks attached to a long and sturdy rope.
"In the past, many people here fished, mainly using cast nets. Now, if you go far away and meet an elderly person who used to live in the village and say he lives in Cau Sa Huynh hamlet, you will know right away," said Cuc.
Cu Cuc said, after the liberation day, I and 4 fishermen in the village borrowed money from the bank to buy a generator to put on the boat, then cut through the waves and went out to sea to practice fishing.
After that, 4 friends asked to withdraw their capital, leaving me alone to make a living on the water. Heaven does not disappoint those who work hard, my diligence helped me catch a lot of fresh fish. "At that time, there were a lot of fish, sometimes I caught 2-3 quintals of scad. Many days I had a big catch of mackerel as big as my arm...", Cuc recalled.
Sea fish caught by trawling in Duc Pho town (Quang Ngai province) are sold at high prices and are always popular with retailers.
As for the head of Thanh Duc 2 residential group, Vo Ngoc Duyen, in the early 80s, Mr. Duyen and many fishermen left their hometown for Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa) to practice fishing in the Truong Sa sea. At that time, there were a lot of fish, so after only a few days of fishing at sea, he and his fishing friends returned to shore. Everyone was happy because they had a good income.
"Back then, there were a lot of groupers so business was quite good. Fishing was a very prosperous business," Mr. Duyen confided. Hearing Mr. Duyen say that, Mr. Giao excitedly joined in, "I also went there to fish with my brothers and then later went fishing near the shore. Since I was 9 years old, I have been fishing with a net, both far and near the shore, and it has been 49 years now."
Still many concerns
In the past, fishermen from all over came to Sa Huynh to fish for butterflies. They built a wooden frame at the stern of the boat and tied the net to spread out like butterfly wings as the boat moved forward. Countless large and small shrimp and fish entered the thick net that looked like a giant funnel.
The abundant seafood catch urged the fishermen in Cau hamlet to switch to the fishing method of their distant friends. They were excited with the results, not knowing that this was the beginning of a series of difficult days in the future.
Many people innovate new fishing methods with double trawling. Two fishing boats cut through the waves in parallel, pulling a fairly thick and large net, trawling seafood from large to small, causing fish and shrimp resources to increasingly decline.
The sea near the shore dried up, so they borrowed money to convert and build large capacity ships to go far out to sea with the hope of increasingly prosperous business. Then the far sea also ran out of fish and shrimp, causing many people to suffer losses because their income was not enough to cover expenses. Many fishermen fell into debt.
"After returning from fishing in Nha Trang, I had a fair amount of capital so I borrowed more money to build a boat to practice trawling. After a short time, I realized it was not going well so I sold the boat to pay off the debt. Here, many people who work in trawling lose money and lose their boats and houses because they cannot pay back their bank loans," said Mr. Duyen.
Unlike Mr. Duyen, all three of Mr. Cuc’s sons borrowed money to build new and renovate fishing boats to operate double trawling in the northern seas. The two younger sons lost money in business and had to sell their boats to pay off their debts.
The youngest son, Phan Van Cong, sold his father's house and land but still could not pay off the debt. Cong had to work on a fishing boat to earn money to support his family. His eldest son, only 15 years old, had to drop out of school to work on the boat to earn money to help his parents. "The trawling profession has brought many consequences. Many families' lives are difficult, with debts piling up," Cuc sighed.
We left Cau hamlet with the sighs of the elders. They were saddened by the depletion of fish and shrimp, their children’s business losses, and their debts. And, they remembered the distant days when fishing boats returned to shore, bustling with laughter.
Xom Cau currently has 160 households living with their main income coming from fishing. Fish and shrimp are depleted, making life difficult for fishermen.
Head of Thanh Duc 2 residential group, Pho Thanh ward, Vo Ngoc Duyen, said that there are currently 4 boats with about 10 people fishing by line. The income is not very high but enough to cover family expenses and build a decent house.
If there are measures to prevent destructive fishing so that fish can reproduce and be abundant like before, the income from this profession will be very high. Because the fish caught are of high quality, they can be sold for a very high price...
Source
Comment (0)