Fishing in the Gulf of Tonkin, Nghe An fishermen hit a jackpot with tuna

Thanh Thuy (Hoang Mai Center for Culture, Information and Communication)• March 30, 2020 07:13

(Baonghean.vn) - With the selling price of 150,000 VND/kg of mackerel, fishing boats arriving at Quynh Phuong fishing port (Hoang Mai town) earn hundreds of millions of VND/trip.

Fishermen transport fish from boat to shore. Photo: Thuy Ho

The iron-hulled boat NA 99399 TS of Mr. Nguyen Van Phuong has just returned from a fishing trip in the Gulf of Tonkin. On this trip, his boat caught nearly 4 tons of various types of fish, of which more than 3 tons were tuna. On this occasion, due to difficulties in exporting to the Chinese market and some countries in the region, the price of fish has decreased by 20,000 - 30,000 VND/kg.

Currently, the price of type 1 mackerel sold at the port is 150,000 VND/kg, type 2 fish is 135,000 VND/kg. However, fuel costs have also decreased so the boats are still profitable. On this trip, Mr. Phuong's boat earned over 400 million VND.

Các thương lái thu mua cá tại cảng Quỳnh Phương

Traders buy fish at Quynh Phuong port.

Sharing the joy of a good tuna season, other large capacity offshore fishing vessels also caught 2-3 tons of tuna per trip. The tuna were caught about 60-80 nautical miles offshore. Each fish weighed 3.5 kg or more, some weighed more than ten kg.

Because Quynh Phuong fishing port has a convenient location for mooring boats and the price of imported fish in Nghe An is higher than in some other places, many boats from Nam Dinh and Thanh Hoa also stop by to sell. On average, dozens of tons of mackerel are sold at Quynh Phuong fishing port every day.

Mackerel has high economic value. When caught, it is purchased by traders and agents at Quynh Phuong fishing port, then sold at retail markets in the province and imported by refrigerated trucks to sell to neighboring provinces. These are the biggest tuna catches of the year in Nghe An.