Unique trick of dropping leaves to catch shrimps and prawns, earning half a million/day

Early in the morning, Mr. Le Ngoc Phuong (24 years old, Tam Dai commune, Phu Ninh district, Quang Nam) held a round racket, about 1 meter wide.², the net bag is about 2m long. The man wearing shorts, T-shirt, and hat leaves home to start work. He puts the racket on his shoulder, holds it with one arm, and controls the motorbike with the other hand from home to the edge of Phu Ninh irrigation lake for about 5 minutes. Arriving at the lake, Mr. Phuong carries the racket and wades into the blue water towards the bunches of leaves placed underwater to manually harvest aquatic products.

Seeing me standing on the shore, Mr. Phuong said: "Take off your long pants and go catch shrimps." After saying that, he told me where to wade into the water up to my waist and advised me to follow closely behind him. "I am familiar with this area so avoid deep water, if you go to the wrong place you will fall in there and drink a lot of water!", Mr. Phuong advised.

I followed his instructions to "witness" the profession of catching shrimp and prawns with leaves. The work of the workers is to immerse their bodies in water, hold a net in one hand, and gently lift up a bunch of leaves lying at the bottom with the other hand. In a split second, the net scoops up the entire bunch of leaves lying inside, and the worker lifts the bunch of leaves up high and shakes them vigorously.

At this time, hundreds of shrimps and prawns fell into the net, jumping and fresh. In the mess, besides shrimps and prawns, there were also a few fish and garbage. Mr. Phuong lifted the net out of the water and used his hands to pick out the unnecessary things. Then he raised the net high so that the shrimps and prawns fell into the bag at the back. The work was repeated like that until the end of the fishing session.

Observing the process, I saw that shrimps and prawns are not easy to catch. When the water is stirred, they will jump very quickly and escape. But how can they be caught in the middle of a vast ocean? I asked. Mr. Phuong immediately replied: “The person who catches them needs to have a “profession” to own them, not everyone can do it. When putting the net into the bunch of leaves, it requires gentle movements, one hand slowly lifts the bunch of leaves, the other hand skillfully inserts the net underneath so as not to make any noise. If the worker accidentally shakes the bunch of leaves slightly, there will be no shrimps or prawns left inside,” Mr. Phuong revealed.

Mr. Phuong used to work as a worker in an industrial park with an average income of 5 million VND per month, and 6-7 million VND during overtime. But the work was hard, so he returned to his hometown and learned how to catch shrimp and prawns from his uncle. This way of catching shrimp does not require much investment in tools and equipment, but only takes time and soaking in the water.

He learned the same way as his uncle: in the hot season, he broke tree branches, tied them into a fan shape and dropped them into the lake. Then, he made a net to catch fish. “I am putting about 60 bunches of leaves along the edge of the lake, the deepest part is nearly 1 meter, the shallow part is about 30cm. The leaves are soaked in water, creating an environment for shrimps and prawns to take shelter, especially on hot days when they come here a lot,” he shared.

Mr. Phuong revealed that to attract shrimps and prawns to stay, choosing the type of leaves is very important. Workers must choose leaves that are not spicy and that will take a long time to fall off in water. “The leaves of the Dung Dinh tree are the most suitable for attracting shrimps and prawns to stay because they have the characteristic of being shaped like a fan, and when tied together, they are very easy. Another characteristic is that Dung Dinh leaves can only rot after being soaked in water for a month,” he said, adding that other types of leaves will fall off after about 10 days, leaving only the branches, at which point they must be replaced with new ones.

According to Mr. Phuong, every November is the rainy season so the profession of catching shrimp with leaves is closed, but this year the hot weather and little rain have created favorable conditions. Every day, his work starts at 6am and ends at 8am. When the shrimps are brought home, Mr. Phuong puts them in a basin, pours water in and washes them. Then puts them in a basket to remove the sand and gravel mixed inside.

When this stage is completed, Mr. Phuong continues to collect the waste, then sort the shrimp, fish, and prawns. “On a good day, I catch about 5kg, on a bad day, a few kilos of shrimp. In addition to catching in the morning, I continue fishing at 2pm, finishing the job after an hour,” he said, adding that the amount of fishing depends on the weather. On hot days, I catch a lot, on cool days, I catch less.

After cleaning the shrimp, Mr. Phuong's wife brought them out to sell in the morning market for 100,000 VND; shrimp 150,000 VND per kg. "On a good day, I earn 500,000 VND, on a bad day, I earn 100,000 VND, on average I earn about 300,000 VND per day when working. This income is quite high compared to farmers," Mr. Phuong confided, adding that every day he catches goby fish, snakehead fish... to sell, contributing to increasing his income.

About 200m from where Mr. Phuong placed the leaves, his uncle - Mr. Le Ngoc Loi was removing leaves and placing them along the Phu Ninh auxiliary dam in Tam Dai commune. Clumps of leaves were placed on the rocks, the way he caught shrimp was similar to what his nephew did.

Mr. Loi has been in the profession for nearly 10 years and is familiar with the places where he can catch a lot of seafood. In the rocky areas, where shrimps and prawns live, he often leaves leaves to catch them. However, he has to be careful when working, if he moves carelessly, he may fall, and the rocks will cut his feet and cause bleeding.