Crab catching village

(Baonghean.vn) - At noon or late afternoon, walking along National Highway 7, we see groups of motorbikes going downstream, both the drivers and the motorbike taxi drivers carrying plastic buckets. Those are the people of Yen Thanh returning from catching crabs. This job has long been the livelihood of many people in the rice fields.

Yen Thanh people go catching crabs in the fields in Do Luong.

In Yen Thanh, almost every commune has people catching crabs to sell, but the most concentrated in My Thanh, Khanh Thanh communes... especially Cong Thanh commune has hundreds of people attached to the crab catching profession. They choose to catch crabs to make a living because this is an easy job, no need to invest capital, just need to be diligent, diligently groping, picking up in the fields to be able to earn money.

There are many ways to catch crabs (picking them up in the middle of the field, hooking them in the caves, etc.), depending on the time, they can catch them during the day or at night, from far away or near. Every day, people who go to catch crabs from far away wake up at 4am. They usually make an appointment in advance for about 5-6 people to go together in a group, to support each other when necessary. The crab catching tools are simple, just a small bucket, a snake bag and a sharpened bamboo stick. Taking advantage of going to work early, they rarely eat breakfast at home but often go to the shops along Highway 7 to buy some banh chung to bring to the field to eat.

Means and tools for catching crabs of Cong Thanh people (Yen Thanh).

From Yen Thanh, crab catchers spread out to Thanh Chuong, Nam Dan, Do Luong, Anh Son, Tan Ky districts... Their daily round trip distance is about 100 - 130 km. They usually "work" mainly in the fields in Do Luong, and on days when crabs are priced well, they go further, following the Ho Chi Minh road to communes in Tan Ky, such as Nghia Dung, Nghia Hop, Nghia Dong...

Night crab catching usually does not go very far, in addition to normal tools, a flashlight is needed. It is important to charge the flashlight "full" to prolong the crab catching time. From 6 pm they start going to the fields and finish work at 5 pm. The job of catching crabs requires going early and coming back late, working all night, when there are few crabs, they have to go from bright to dense fields. In addition to the cold wind, sun, rain, sometimes they also have to come into contact with chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides or snakes. The most difficult thing is to have to dig crabs in the caves, making their hands sore. The hands of crab catchers are often covered with tears, scratches, sometimes even pinched by crabs until they swell...

The result of a crab hunting session.

Each crab catching session, usually in the morning and back in the afternoon, each person earns about 3-5 kg ​​of crab, if they catch crabs all day, they earn more. They go to the district where they catch crabs and sell the crabs to the purchasing point in that district before leaving. The current price of crabs is 35,000 VND/kg, at peak times it is 90,000 VND/kg. After deducting the cost of gas, each person earns about 100,000 VND/session.

A crab purchasing point in Do Luong.

At around 11am, on Highway 7, groups of motorbikes of people who went to catch crabs in Yen Thanh will leave one by one, all of their clothes dirty.

Present at Son Long hamlet - the famous "crab hamlet" in Cong Thanh commune, when the workers here have finished a working session. Mrs. Nguyen Thi Sen (50 years old), who has decades of experience in crab catching, shared: "Catching crabs is hard but there is no need to worry. In this village, many households earn money thanks to crabs, have money to pay for their children's education, buy fertilizer, and seeds for production."

A woman is catching crabs "mà" (hang).

Son Long hamlet currently has 87 households, of which more than 50 households regularly go crab catching all year round, except during heavy rains and storms. Adults often go far away to catch crabs, catching them all night, while children, because they are busy studying, often catch crabs nearby. Typical households include: Tran Khac Mien, Nguyen Trong Nhan, Nguyen Van Linh... Especially Mr. Nguyen Van Men's household, with 8 people, from being poor and hungry, thanks to crab catching, has become well-off, well-fed, able to build decent houses, and buy many expensive conveniences.

People catch crabs on the way to Yen Thanh along Highway 7.

Many people in Cong Thanh commune said that after years of hard work raising pigs, which did not bring much profit and polluted the environment, many families have "changed their fate" to catching crabs and have been attached to this profession for a long time. Catching field crabs is the livelihood of many people in Son Long hamlet, Tan Long, Cong Luan./.

Huy Thu