Go 'digging' for Hung Nguyen crabs

(Baonghean.vn) - The Lam Nghe An River flowing through Hung Nguyen (near the sea) provides the local people with a unique natural resource: clams and crabs. Clams and crabs are not only delicious, clean daily food, but also create jobs and income for hundreds of local households.

A flower crab in Hung Nguyen.Clams have a crab-like shape and hairy legs.

Mussels reproduce quickly and in large numbers, living in brackish water areas along rivers such as mudflats, sedge flats, and bald creeks. Crabs often dig shallow burrows along rivers and fields to hide and swim with the current. In Hung Nguyen, people in communes along the Lam River such as Hung Loi, Hung Nhan, Hung Khanh, Hung Lam, Hung Phu, etc. often go fishing for mussels and mud crabs to improve their meals and earn extra income.

Depending on the specific conditions of each region, local people have suitable ways to catch crabs and crabs. In the morning, in the riverbanks with mud and sedge, fishermen row their boats along the shore, set up 2 wooden planks to herd crabs into buckets, basins or spread out a rectangular net with a strip 7-8 m long at the back. Then, 2 people hold tree branches to herd crabs from the sedge bushes into the pre-set net.

People who do not have a net or boat can use mineral water bottles or cooking oil bottles, cut off the neck, add bait (bran, snail meat, etc.) and place them close to the mud in places with clams along the river or beach, wait for the clams to come in large numbers, then pour them into a bucket.

In the evening, when the temperature drops, crabs and crabs come out of their holes. People put on lamps and walk along the riverbanks and creeks to collect them.

Catching crabs and crabs by dropping a tube with bait, snail meat, etc. in the tube is a simple and effective way.

The results of a day of catching crabs and crabs by Hung Nguyen people

Hung Loi commune is the place where the most crabs and clams are caught in the district, about 20 - 30 tons/month (crabs account for a small number, about 1/100). In hamlet 2, in addition to households who catch crabs and clams on the go, there are 2 households who have been doing this job for many years. Every day, they go to work on their boats at 2 - 3 am and return at 9 - 10 am, catching 20 - 30 kg of crabs/boat each session.

Nowadays, clams and crabs have become specialties and are transported to other provinces. The catching and trading of clams and crabs has gradually become more active. The clams and crabs that are caught are often brought to purchasing facilities to be packaged and shipped to Hai Phong and Hanoi every day.

Caught crabs are brought to the purchasing place, cleaned and classified.

Crabs and crabs are prepared to be packaged and sent to the provinces.

Mussels and crabs can be processed into many nutritious dishes. After being processed, mussels and crabs can be steamed, boiled, fried, cooked in soup, made into patties... depending on the preferences of each person and each family. In particular, the mussel sauce made from mussel meat with salt, galangal, and fermented rice bran is a favorite specialty of many people, with a unique flavor.

Specialty fish sauce eaten with boiled sweet potato leaves. Photo: Internet

Huy Thu