Despite the cold night, border area students still go hunting for specialty fish

When night falls, it is also time for students of Tam Hop Ethnic Minority Secondary School to prepare tools to hunt for special cool fish. Groups of 3 to 5 students form groups to hunt fish.

On weekend nights, students from Tam Hop Ethnic Minority Boarding Secondary School form groups to go down to the stream to hunt for specialty fish. Photo: Lu Phu

Luong Viet Quang, an 8th grade student at Tam Hop Ethnic Minority Boarding Secondary School, shared: "With a time period of 1 to 2 hours, one person in our group can catch from 0.5 to 1kg of cool fish."

To catch cool fish, in addition to good swimming and diving skills, you need supporting tools such as: diving goggles, flashlight, and sharp iron tools to stab the fish.

The fishing area for the student groups is the Cha Lap stream, flowing through Tam Hop commune, the stream originates from the natural forests on the Vietnam-Laos border. Photo: Lu Phu

Vieng Van Huy, 13 years old, Tay Pong ethnic, Xop Nam village, Tam Hop commune shared: “When I was young, I used to carry fish in baskets for older brothers. When I started 6th and 7th grade, I learned to dive to catch fish myself to sell and earn money to help my family. If I caught a lot at night, I would sell half, and take the other half home to cook.”

The full fish tanks will help students have more money to cover their study expenses. Photo: Lu Phu

After many hours of struggling with the strong current, the result was a full fish bowl. The specialty fish that the children hunted was ordered by traders at a price of 200,000 to 250,000 VND/kg, depending on the size.

It is estimated that each child can earn from 100,000 to 150,000 VND per night. This is a decent income for people living in the border areas.