Fishing village on the plateau

Tourists enjoy visiting Se San fishing village

A hard time

Looking at the poetic scenery of the fishing village on Se San Lake, in village 7, Ia Toi commune, Ia H'Drai district, few people know the difficult and bumpy journeys that the residents here have experienced.

As one of the first residents to set foot on Se San Lake, Mr. Nguyen Van Trieu in village 7, Ia Toi commune said: I am from An Giang, in 2010 I heard from friends that Kon Tum has a large Se San Lake. I just came here and saw that there are still many aquatic resources, many valuable species, such as: Catfish, Anh Vu fish, Striped Sua fish, Grass carp, Silver carp... From then on, I decided to stay here to work, then invited my brothers to work with me.

The fish cage farming model is bringing high income to residents of Se San fishing village.

The households in the fishing village come from different regions, such as Ca Mau, An Giang, Long An … Each person has a different hometown, but they all have the same fate of making a living in a foreign land. The households here mainly live off fishing on Se San Lake.

Mr. Dang Van Thuoc, village 7, Ia Toi commune recalls: At first, when we came here, we did not have any identification papers, we built raft houses and lived adrift on Se San lake, bordering Gia Lai and Kon Tum provinces. In general, it was very difficult, when the Kon Tum provincial government inspected, we had to move the raft house to Gia Lai province and vice versa.

The district has supported households to build 15 aquaculture models on Se San Lake using funds from the National Target Program for Sustainable Poverty Reduction. At the same time, it has created conditions for households to establish cooperatives to promote the advantages of aquatic resources from Se San Lake…”

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Chairman of Ia H'Drai District People's Committee

In 2015, when Ia H'Drai district was established, 29 households of illegal fishing village were approved by the People's Committee of Kon Tum province and the local government created conditions for the fishing village people to register for temporary residence and long-term temporary absence, and in 2017 were granted household registration. Since then, they have become official citizens of Ia Toi commune, Ia H'Drai district, and the lives of the fishing village households have turned a new page. The households were temporarily assigned 400m2 of residential land by the district and supported with 50 million VND/household to build houses; they enjoyed the policies of the Party and the State; their children of school age were able to go to school. Since then, the households have stabilized their lives, and there is no longer a migration situation like before.

Attractive tourist destination

Returning to Se San fishing village, we were truly amazed at the changes here. In addition to the solidly built houses on the shore, there have appeared floating restaurants for tourism on the lake. Everything has changed, but the generous and hospitable character of the residents of the river delta region remains intact, expressed through warm handshakes and bright smiles on their faces.

Parting the Se San water, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Nhan took us around the fishing village, he said: By some fate, my wife and I have been here for more than 10 years. With the help of the local government, we are now confident enough to raise our children. Currently, the family has built 6 fish cages, exporting dozens of tons of commercial fish each year, earning 30 to 40 million VND.

Se San fishing village seen from above

Currently, Se San fishing village has 29 households and 103 people living there; of which, 6 households are doing tourism, restaurant, sightseeing business... Tourists visiting the fishing village can experience fishing activities, see how to catch natural anchovies on the lake. Enjoy rustic dishes made from various types of fish and buy OCOP products, such as: dried anchovies, anchovy rice paper, dried snakehead fish... Every year, the fishing village welcomes about 2,000 tourists to visit.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Chairman of the People's Committee of Ia H'Drai district, said: The district has supported households to build 15 aquaculture models on Se San lake from the capital of the National Target Program for Sustainable Poverty Reduction. At the same time, it has created conditions for households to establish cooperatives to promote the advantages of aquatic resources from Se San lake and closely connect farmers and fishermen with the market, improving people's income in a long-term and sustainable manner.

The world's most beautiful fishing village in Ha Long Bay is at risk of "sinkin' into the sea"