The "one of a kind" grouper: A rare gift from heaven
Having been fishing since childhood, this was the first time fisherman Nguyen Van Hien and his crew saw such a large grouper. The fish was brought onto the boat gently, but after about 30 minutes, it struggled and flapped its tail, causing the small boat to shake violently…
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Fisherman Hien (left) with the results of his last sea trip of the year. |
On the first day of February 2019, fisherman Nguyen Van Hien (born in 1975, residing in Hoa Ly quarter, Cua Tung town, Vinh Linh district, Quang Tri province) and his crewmate Le Van Minh (born in 1972) went to Quang Tri sea to fish by bamboo boat 2 nautical miles from shore.
Two days before, fisherman Hien had set up a net on the reef, so when they got there, they just had to pull the net onto the boat. Seeing the heavy net, the two fishermen thought it was caught on something, but when they pulled it up, they were surprised to see a very large grouper. “A fish weighing about 2kg was caught in the net first, then the grouper rushed to eat it. Who would have thought it would get caught and drag the whole section of net into it” - Mr. Hien recalled.
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Compare the sandal and the grouper. |
The grouper was brought onto the boat gently, but 30 minutes later it started to struggle, flapping its tail so hard that the boat rocked. Mr. Hien and Mr. Minh had to use a wooden beam to press down on the fish, then use a rope to tie it to the boat to bring the fish to shore.
“Caught the fish at 10am, and brought to shore at 1pm. The fish weighed 80kg and was sold for 16 million VND” - Mr. Hien said.
In response to rumors that the grouper Mr. Hien caught was caused by a mine explosion, fisherman Hien explained: "In the summer, when the water is clear, we dive. This season, the water is muddy, and we can't see any fish, so we pull the net. It's absurd to say we used a mine because the water is muddy, so we can't see any fish. Besides, we've been doing this for a long time, everyone here knows, there's no such thing as an mine explosion" - Mr. Hien explained.
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The "one of a kind" grouper was caught in the waters of Quang Tri. |
According to this fisherman, the grouper he just caught is one of a kind in the Quang Tri sea area. Normally, in the Con Co sea area, a grouper can be caught weighing about 40kg, and near the shore, 2 nautical miles away, the biggest one that fishermen have caught so far is just under 30kg.
