Craft villages live off floods

When the water begins to “jump” from the shore, it is also the time when fishing hook and eel trap craft villages in the province become bustling. The flood season is considered the busiest “business season” of the year.

After many ups and downs, My Hoa fishing hook craft village, Tay Khanh 8 hamlet, Long Xuyen ward ( An Giang province) currently has about 10 households specializing in production in the form of father-to-son transmission. On average, each household hires from 3 to 20 workers, operating throughout the year...

Although its heyday has passed, the craft village still resonates with the sounds of grinding machines, rolling machines, and hammers pounding fish hooks. During the flood season, the working atmosphere in the small hamlet becomes even more bustling.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Diep sharpens fishing hooks. Photo: TRUNG HIEU

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Diep - owner of Ngoc Diep fishing hook manufacturing facility said that My Hoa fishing hooks are famous for their sharpness, high durability, and variety of sizes, so the market consumes them all year round. However, the product is consumed the most during the flood season, from April to August of the lunar calendar.

His facility sells an average of 100,000 hooks/muon of all kinds of fishing hooks throughout the Mekong Delta, priced from 500,000 VND to 4 million VND/muon, depending on size and type.

“My facility has about 20 types of fishing hooks, many different sizes including: cast hooks, cross hooks, kieu hooks, phi hooks, shrimp hooks, snake hooks, frog hooks and some types of sea fishing hooks. Depending on the needs of customers, the facility will make fishing hooks to meet them,” Mr. Diep shared.

Having been involved in the fishing hook making business for nearly 50 years, Mr. Nguyen Van Ut said that this profession is closely related to the water. Where there is water, there are fish, and where there are many fish, there are many hooks to sell. In recent years, the amount of freshwater fish has decreased sharply, so the traditional craft village is no longer as vibrant as before.

To make a complete hook, the production process must go through many stages. Based on the customer's order size, the worker straightens the wire, chops it into pieces, stamps the barbs, cuts the barbs, sharpens the hook, fixes the tip, stamps the butt..., then tempers the hook to make it hard and shiny, and finally packages it.

Currently, most of the steps are done by machine, but sharpening and adjusting the hook tip must be done manually or semi-manually. “Every step is important, but sharpening the hook alone determines the quality of the product. For a hook to be “close to the fish”, it must be sharpened evenly and sharply,” said Mr. Ut.

Similar to My Hoa fishing hook craft village, during the flood season, people in Can Dang commune's eel trap craft village are busy supplying traders and people in the Mekong Delta. In addition to making eel traps, people also make shrimp traps, frog traps, snake traps, snakehead fish traps... to diversify the village's products and meet customer demand. Currently, the craft village has about 20 production households, providing regular jobs for about 100 local workers.

Mr. Nguyen Van Dung Anh, residing in Can Thuan hamlet, said that in recent years, raw materials for making bamboo traps have become increasingly scarce, so people have switched to using plastic pipes or plastic mesh. Currently, his facility produces an average of 500 - 600 traps/day including: bamboo traps, plastic mesh traps and PVC pipe traps.

With the price of 25,000 - 27,000 VND/piece, after deducting expenses, his family earns a profit of 20 - 30 million VND/month. In addition, the facility also creates jobs for about 20 - 30 local workers, with an income of 2 - 5 million VND/person/month.

According to locals, eel traps are consumed all year round, but the highest demand is during the flood season. Mr. Bui Van Huan, resident of Can Thuan hamlet, said that the trap making profession is divided into many stages, each worker will be paid differently depending on the stage of work, the average income is from 100,000 - 200,000 VND/day.

“My husband and I work all year round. If someone orders, we make it. If there is no order, we still make it and wait for the flood season to sell it, so we don’t have to worry about it going unsold. When the traps are in high demand, we focus on weaving traps quickly to deliver them to the brokers in time. Every month, I earn 3-5 million VND from weaving hom. This job is not rich, but it is enough to cover my living expenses,” Mr. Huan said while weaving hom.

Although these craft villages are no longer as bustling as in their heyday, many people still persevere in keeping their craft, considering it both a livelihood and a source of pride, the “soul of the craft” of their homeland. Each flood season brings a new rhythm of life, adding vitality to the traditional craft villages that have quietly and persistently endured in the fertile West.

Loyalty

Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/lang-nghe-song-nho-lu-a464800.html