(QBĐT) - Fishermen in Canh Duong village (Quang Trach) are famous for their fishing for hairtail. However, fishing for hairtail is a manual occupation, so it is hard and requires a lot of labor. In recent years, many fishing boats in Canh Duong have switched to catching new types of seafood, including catching cowfish, which fishermen often jokingly call "sea cow" hunting.
Make a "home" for the fish
The Roon River estuary is bustling these days as boats and ships come and go to collect seafood and prepare fishing gear for the first trips of the Southern season. Walking along the embankment of the fishing port in the Canh Duong fishing village, with the introduction of fishermen, it is not difficult for us to recognize fishing boats that hunt "sea cows". Because on the boats specializing in catching "sea cows", in addition to the usual fishing gear, there are also hundreds of fishing poles with fabric flags at the top and huge fishing nets made of straw bags tied together.
Fisherman Nguyen Minh Tuan (born in 1990, in Trung Vu village, Canh Duong commune), owner of a boat specializing in catching cowfish, and his fellow fishermen are quickly tying the last trawl poles, completing nearly 200 trawl strips for their upcoming trip.
According to fisherman Nguyen Minh Tuan, after many years of making a living at sea, he and many fishermen in Canh Duong have clearly understood the characteristics of the cowfish. This is a species of fish that lives on the surface of the sea, often traveling in schools along the water's edge of ocean currents to find food. In particular, cowfish love to take shelter under the shade of floating objects on the sea surface. Therefore, fishermen have come up with a way to release a "house" for the cowfish to take shelter in and catch.
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The tram is made of strips of sedge connected to a rope about 15m long. At the top of the tram, fishermen use a bamboo pole about 5m high, with a fabric flag of various colors attached to the top (depending on the boat owner's preference), but usually colors that contrast with the color of the sea for easy recognition. To make the tram float vertically on the sea surface, the base of the tram pole is cast in concrete and a large buoy is attached to the middle of the pole.
When the ship arrives at the fishing area, the ship owner will, with his experience, observe and recognize the ocean currents, along with the support of modern equipment to detect fish flows and decide to release the nets to attract the catfish to take shelter. On average, in a day and night of fishing, the ship owner and fishermen usually release about 50-70 nets. When catfish are detected, the fishermen will use a net to surround and catch them.
New job, high efficiency
According to Canh Duong fishermen, hunting “sea cows” is not a traditional occupation of the village. For generations, Canh Duong fishermen have been famous for fishing for hairtail. However, in recent years, due to the scarcity of sea labor and not enough crew to go fishing for hairtail, many boat owners in Canh Duong commune have switched to catching cow fish.
Canh Duong fishermen can catch cow fish all year round, but this type of fish usually appears in large numbers around May-June and September-October. Like hairtail, cow fish is a specialty fish, often exported to the Chinese market, so it has high economic value. Currently, the price of cow fish fluctuates from 120-150,000 VND/kg.
Fisherman Nguyen Minh Tuan (born in 1982, Canh Thuong village, Canh Duong commune) - owner of 3 fishing boats specializing in catching cowfish - said: Previously, he also specialized in catching hairtail, however, in the past 2 years, due to not having enough friends to catch hairtail, he learned the profession of catching cowfish from fishermen in the South Central provinces and switched to the profession of casting nets and catching cowfish.
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The fishing of cowfish does not require much labor, each boat only needs 4-5 crew members to go out to sea. This job is not too complicated, just requires diligence and good health. The reserves of cowfish in Vietnam's seas are still very abundant, so if lucky, each boat can collect several tons of cowfish after 5-7 days at sea.
According to Mr. Tuan, although it is a new profession, in the past 2 years, thanks to favorable weather, his family's 3 fishing boats specializing in catching cowfish have continuously gone out to sea and had many "bumper" trips, bringing home hundreds of millions of dong for his family and fellow fishermen. Notably, in June 2023, in just 4 nights of fishing, Mr. Tuan's fishing boat caught 7 tons of cowfish, earning more than 700 million dong.
“After finishing the fishing net, I was eating and resting with my brothers when we discovered a school of “dark” cowfish moving under the shade of the net. Overjoyed, we quickly dropped the net into the sea, pulled the lead, and tightly surrounded the school of fish. Seeing that there were so many fish, I contacted other boats in the cooperative fishing group that were fishing nearby to come and collect the fish in time,” said Mr. Tuan.
| “What the locality and fishermen of Canh Duong are aiming for is that when going out to sea and sticking to the sea, everyone must voluntarily comply with the provisions of the law; not catch fish in a way that destroys small fish; the marine environment must be protected, so that aquatic resources continue to regenerate. Only then will the fishing boats of Canh Duong fishermen confidently go out to sea, stick to the sea, bring prosperity to their families, enrich their homeland and contribute to protecting the sacred sovereignty of the sea and islands of the Fatherland”, Chairman of Canh Duong Commune People's Committee Dong Vinh Quang wishes. |
According to Nguyen Ngoc Tiep, Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Canh Duong Commune, Canh Duong fishermen have a tradition of catching hairtail and in recent years have developed a new profession - catching cowfish. In recent times, while the output of hairtail fishing remains stable, many fishing boats of Canh Duong fishermen have hit the jackpot with cowfish. In addition to fisherman Nguyen Minh Tuan, many other fishermen have also "won big" due to hitting the jackpot with cowfish. In 2024, although the cowfish fishing season has just begun, many fishermen in Canh Duong Commune have hit the jackpot with cowfish, such as: Fisherman Duong Xuan Thang (Tan Canh village) went on 2 fishing trips and caught 6 tons of cowfish, earning 600 million VND; fishermen Vo Duc Anh and Ngo Van Hung both hit the jackpot with 2 tons of cowfish, earning 200 million VND per boat...
Chairman of Canh Duong Commune People's Committee Dong Vinh Quang shared that catching catfish is a new profession, but initially it has brought certain results. Realizing that this is a profession that does not destroy the environment and is quite friendly to the environment (because it only catches large fish), the product has high economic value, so the locality encourages fishermen to promote going offshore, sticking to the sea by catching catfish, along with other traditional professions.
Phan Phuong
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