Fish farmers in Dinh Binh lake left empty-handed after storm

The terrible wind of storm No. 13 tore up and destroyed aquaculture cages in Dinh Binh Lake, leaving fishermen empty-handed...

Before storm No. 13 occurred, in Dinh Binh lake (Vinh Thanh commune, Gia Lai ), there were 24 households raising freshwater aquatic products with 350 cages/22,080 m3. In the central area of ​​the lake, there was the highest density of cages with 15 households raising 205 cages (13,380 m3), the rest were raised along the shore. The main species raised was red tilapia, accounting for 90%, the rest were other species such as red-tailed catfish, knifefish, hybrid catfish, snakehead fish, etc.

According to Mr. Dang Minh Vu, an expert from the Economic Department of Vinh Thanh Commune, before storm No. 13, the commune government had mobilized households in the middle of the lake to pull the cages to the shore and tie them to avoid damage, in anticipation of floods after the storm, which would bring rubbish and trees from upstream, pushing the cages away, causing loss of aquatic products. However, during and after storm No. 13, there was no rain or flood, but the terrible wind broke up and knocked the cages away, causing all the farmed aquatic products to drift into the Kon River, causing heavy damage.

The image of a school of fish swimming red on the water surface in cages in Dinh Binh Lake (Vinh Thanh Commune, Gia Lai) was "taken away" by storm No. 13. Photo: V.D.T.

After the storm, on the morning of November 7, on the way to Dinh Binh Lake to visit his fish cages, Mr. Nguyen The Huu (born in 1979) in Dinh Nhat village (Vinh Thanh commune, Gia Lai) was trembling as he walked, not knowing the fate of his fish cages after storm No. 13 with its terrifying wind. When he reached the lake, Mr. Huu's heart was heavy when he could no longer see the scene of fish swimming around, turning the water surface red, but before his eyes were the fish cages that had been destroyed.

Mr. Nguyen The Huu, one of the five households that suffered the most damage among the households raising fish in Dinh Binh Lake, was extremely regretful when his two cages of catfish, which he had raised for two years, now weighed more than 2kg each and his 14 cages of red tilapia now weighed an average of 700g each. Before storm No. 13 hit, the 16 cages raising fish in Dinh Binh Lake had nurtured in Mr. Huu a great hope of "making a big buck" when he would harvest and sell the 16 cages of fish near Tet.

Storm No. 13 destroyed nearly 350 fish cages in Dinh Binh Lake. Photo: V.D.T.

“Currently, my catfish is priced from 80,000 VND to 100,000 VND/kg (from 1.5 kg/fish and up) and red tilapia is priced at 52,000 VND/kg. Near Tet, the price of fish has increased even more. I have been raising fish in Dinh Binh lake for nearly 20 years now, and I have never suffered such heavy damage as this time. The iron fish cages were destroyed by the storm, the iron broke into pieces, and all the fish in the cages sank into the river, leaving no trace. In just one night, my family was left empty-handed. The storm swept away more than 300 million VND of my investment from fish fry to fish feed,” Mr. Huu lamented.

In the same situation as Mr. Huu, Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhung in Dinh Nhat village (Vinh Thanh commune) is also "gutting" because of the great damage when 20 of her fish cages in Dinh Binh lake were destroyed by storm No. 13; including 6 cages for raising catfish and 14 cages for raising red tilapia. Before the storm, Ms. Nhung had not harvested any fish because she had released many batches of fish in a rolling manner. The largest batch of fish weighed 8 ounces each, the smallest batch weighed 5 ounces each. Ms. Nhung expected to harvest and sell all of them in 1 month, but now storm No. 13 has "stripped" Ms. Nhung of hundreds of millions of dong.

Many fish cages in Dinh Binh Lake were submerged by storm No. 13. Photo: V.D.T.

Ms. Nhung calculated that each day, her 20 fish cages eat 10 bags of concentrated feed, the average price of which is over 400,000 VND/bag, the most expensive type is 480,000 VND/bag, the cheapest type is 430,000 VND/bag, which means the fish eat 4-5 million VND per day.

“The storm swept through, causing the cages to snap, the iron to break, and they all sank to the bottom of the lake, leaving no fish left. To invest in 20 fish cages, I had to borrow a total of 400 million VND from the Policy Bank and the Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development, 200 million VND from each bank, and owe another 200 million VND to the animal feed dealer. I planned to sell the fish to pay off the debt, but now I have nothing and don’t know where to get the money to pay the bank and the feed dealer,” Ms. Nhung lamented.

The militia of Vinh Thanh commune helps households raising fish in cages in Dinh Binh lake to clean up iron from broken cages. Photo: V.D.T.

Not on the list of the most severely damaged households among the 24 fish farming households in Dinh Binh Lake after Storm No. 13, Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Ly (35 years old), wife of Mr. Huynh Tan Duong (36 years old) in Dinh Nhat village (Vinh Thanh commune) is also heartbroken because of the huge damage in the recent storm. Ms. Ly said that before the storm hit, she and her husband raised 16 cages of both red-tailed catfish and red tilapia in Dinh Binh Lake, including 1 HDPE cage supported by the State, and Ms. Nhung raised nearly 100kg of fish in the HDPE cage alone.

“Storm No. 13 swept away and submerged 11 fish cages of my husband and I. Only the HDPE cages remained “as calm as a cucumber” in the terrible wind. Before the storm, my husband and I tied and stuck the 2 iron cages of red tilapia and 2 iron cages of catfish to the HDPE cages and they were not damaged,” said Ms. Ly.

Fish farmers in Dinh Binh Lake clean up the "remnants" of cages left after storm No. 13. Photo: V.D.T.

“Before storm No. 13, aquaculture in Dinh Binh lake was not harvested significantly, only a few households harvested fish that reached the size of 6-8 taels/fish, there were still many fish that reached the weight of 4-5 taels/fish but people did not harvest because they had not reached the right size. Around the beginning of December, people would sell in large quantities but now they have all been scattered. During storm No. 13, Vinh Thanh commune alone suffered losses of more than 8 billion VND in aquaculture,” said Mr. Dang Minh Vu, an expert from the Economic Department of Vinh Thanh commune.

Source: https://nongnghiepmoitruong.vn/nguoi-nuoi-ca-trong-long-ho-dinh-binh-trang-tay-sau-bao-d783771.html