Will there still be any freshwater fish from the Giang River in the future?

(Baonghean)For a long time, people have been brazenly entering the core areas of Pu Mat National Park, such as Khe Khang (Mon Son commune), Khe Choang (Chau Khe), Khe Thoi (Lang Khe), etc., to illegally fish using prohibited methods, to the point that some rare species are almost extinct. It is time for the authorities to take measures to stop this and clarify the responsibility of those in charge of managing and protecting this valuable national resource...

Once upon a time, the Giang River was home to the Mat fish.

As the Pha Lai peak swallowed the sun and twilight enveloped everything, Lo Van Uon and his son, from Thai Son village, renowned as the best fishermen and divers in the region, returned from the Giang River. Their baskets, dangling from their sides, contained only a few tiny fish, no bigger than a finger.

He sighed, "I've been traveling from the Van Mon ravine all the way to the Le stream since yesterday and only caught a few small fish." In the stilt house, his mother, Vi Thi Thieu, sat by the crackling fire, waiting for her children and grandchildren to bring food. Seeing Mr. Uon pour the fish into a basin, chewing betel nut, she sadly recounted, "Back when my eldest son Uon was little, I would put a pot on the stove at home, and my husband would take his net out to the riverbank, cast it, and bring back a whole haul – we'd spend hours untangling them, all small fish." If two people went upstream in a dugout canoe to the Be or Tang streams, they only needed to cast one net and by morning they'd be caught a hundred kilograms of small fish. Mrs. Thieu explained that small fish are called "pa khinh," "pa lat meo" (slanted fish), or "pa va" (small fish) in the Thai language. The Thai people often prepare fish into dishes such as pa pính phé, pa pính tộp, pa pính giảo, hò mọc pa… Ms. Vi Thị Diện, who came from next door to visit, added: In the past, after returning from the fields, the women would put pots on the stove while the men went to the Giăng River to cast their nets. They would return with a whole basketful of fish to eat with “khầu him” (a type of sticky rice).

My grandmother said: "In the old days, people mainly used nets and traps, not electric fishing or dynamite like now. In the Muong Qua region, there were skilled fishermen like Mr. Lang Van Ti in Xieng village, Mr. La Thu, Mr. Lo Van Tuyen in Co Ba village, Mr. La Binh, and Mr. La Duong from Pom village… Nowadays, fish are very rare. If you want to eat catfish, my sons have to go deep into the ravines for several days just to bring back a few handfuls of catfish."

According to Mr. Lo Van Uon, the Giang River is home to the "mat" fish, which has 3 to 6 black spots on its body and pink scales. The "mat" fish are small, only about the size of two or three adult fingers, with the largest weighing only 0.5 to 0.8 kg. They live in schools in rocky crevices and areas near fast-flowing waterfalls, usually swimming and foraging at night. From dusk onwards, they begin searching for insects on the water's surface and algae clinging to the rocks near the waterfalls. Starting in the 8th lunar month is the "mat" fish season; at this time, when passing through the waterfalls at the headwaters of the Giang River, the "mat" fish sway and glide, their bodies shimmering like silver. The "mat" fish of the Giang River are both healthy and nutritious, with delicious, fatty meat and few bones. In Mr. Uon's childhood memories, the Giang River was teeming with fish; people wading across had to push through the fish, and those swimming would be surrounded by schools of fish playing around them.

Mr. La Van Yeu, a Dan Lai man from Co Phat village, recounted that in the past, the Dan Lai people ate catfish instead of rice. At mealtime, each person would roast a cassava root in the stove, then take their fishing net to the river and cast a net over the waterfall. That would be enough for a pot of catfish soup and enough for each person to grill and eat fresh by the fire. During festivals, New Year celebrations, or weddings, the Dan Lai people had to offer catfish to their ancestors with the following prayer: "The year ends, the New Year approaches / We only have / One basket of catfish / One bowl of honey / One cup of light wine / to offer to our ancestors / Please bless us / to prosper / The stream is full of fish..."

And in the memory of every local, the old Muong Qua was a fertile, bountiful field of rice. Especially noteworthy was the sticky rice "khau cu phang" (golden sticky rice), which, when steamed, had an oily, chicken-fat-like consistency, a golden hue, and an intoxicating aroma. Sticky rice with khau cu phang, eaten with fish from the Giang River, was simply delicious. Hence the proverb that still circulates today: "Rice from Muong Qua, fish from the Giang River."

What about in the future...?

From Pha Lai wharf, where the Giang River dam diverts water to irrigate the Muong Qua fields, we followed La Van Thai and his son from Thai Son village in a motorboat upstream on the Giang River to go fishing.

Mr. Thai said that in addition to fishing gear, professional fishermen used to rely on the same method as their ancestors: drying and grilling fish to preserve them for a long time. Now, they use ice in styrofoam containers to keep the fish fresh. Several other groups were also with us as we ventured deeper into the core of Pu Mat National Park to fish.

The fish were caught upstream of the Giang River in the core zone of the National Park.
Pù Mát.

After a long day of casting nets and casting traps, Thai and his son only caught a few catfish. Thai said: "Nowadays, they use electric shock devices, dynamite, and even newer equipment like spearfishing guns to catch catfish and other small fish that hide deep in the caves."

Returning to Pha Lai wharf, I met Mr. Lo Van Peng, a villager from Xieng, resting after a trip deep into Khe Bung village, shivering from the cold in his short clothes. After finishing his pipe, he nimbly carried a styrofoam box filled with ice containing fish, emptied it onto the floor, and weighed it for the owner of a floating restaurant located right at the Pha Lai dam wharf. However, when sorting the fish, he sighed, saying, "I went out the day before yesterday, in the rain and cold, and only caught this much fish. These days, there aren't many fish left; only a few like loach, catfish, and snakehead fish remain, while the barramundi is extinct. Since I was little, I've followed my grandfather and father to fish; a short net cast would yield a whole basketful of fish. But now, not only loach but many other delicious fish from the Giang River are becoming increasingly rare. Before, skilled fishermen could catch several tens of kilograms of fish, but now, one or two kilograms is considered a lot."

Seeing the owner of the floating restaurant pay Mr. Peng 200,000 dong for a kilogram of catfish, Mr. "Dung the Scarred," the owner, said: Catfish is now a specialty served to "VIPs"—tourists visiting the town—and brought back to restaurants as a rare delicacy outside the town. Further south, the price is getting higher and it's becoming very scarce...

Mr. Vi Van K, a professional fisherman from Xieng village, said that most fishermen are local people who go fishing in groups of 1 to 3 people. Fishing methods vary from traditional methods like casting nets and seines. Currently, professional fishermen are using modern, banned equipment such as electric shock devices and explosives. According to Mr. K, a simple electric shock device with 24 transistors and a 75-amp battery is enough to attract large fish weighing 0.9-10 kg, even those deep at the bottom of the river, to surface. Throwing explosives only takes a few seconds, and schools of fish, big and small, float to the surface, allowing the fishermen to simply scoop them up into their boats. When we asked if anyone checks, controls, or prohibits fishing, he answered without hesitation: "Nobody checks or inspects anything. Anyone can catch fish in the river, and with such a vast mountain and forest area, who can possibly monitor everything?"

Electric shock devices are used for fishing.

Regarding the current situation of fish stocks in the Giang River, especially the increasingly depleted and endangered catfish, the Commander of the Mon Son Border Guard Post, Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Trong Vinh, stated: "In recent times, the border guard force has been implementing plans to strengthen management, supervision, and punishment for intentional violations involving the illegal use of electric fishing devices in rivers and streams. Each month, the post assigns a patrol team of six people to each village. We regularly assign operational teams to work with local authorities to raise awareness about the harmful effects of overfishing leading to the extinction of fish in the Giang River."

Station chief Nguyen Trong Vinh added that, however, there are still some individuals intentionally violating the regulations. In 2012, they detected and handled 7 cases involving 10 individuals; confiscated 6 grams of explosives, 1 detonator, and 3cm of slow-burning fuse; imposed fines of over 5 million VND, and confiscated 8 electric shock devices. They also arrested and prosecuted 1 case involving 2 individuals for buying, selling, and using explosives. In the first quarter of 2013, the station apprehended 2 cases in Co Phat village and fined 700,000 VND in one case against an individual in Yen village for using electric shock devices to catch fish.

We contacted Mr. Nguyen Phuc Chien, Head of the Pha Lai Forest Ranger Station, under the Pu Mat National Park Forest Management Unit, to arrange a meeting to learn more about the work of protecting wildlife and marine resources in the area under the station's management, but he refused to cooperate, citing the lack of authorization from his superiors.

In reality, the days spent in Mon Son commune revealed that people in the buffer zone are still secretly or openly crossing the control of authorities into the upstream of the Giang River, within the strictly protected area of ​​Pu Mat National Park, to catch seafood using various means, including prohibited methods such as mines and electric shock devices… to the point that some rare fish species are almost extinct.

Not only fish species, but other rare and endangered wildlife listed in the Red Book in the Khe Khang area, upstream of the Giang River, are in a similar situation, according to reports from other areas such as Khe Choang and Khe Thoi. It is time for relevant authorities to take measures to prevent this and clarify the responsibilities of those in charge of managing and protecting this valuable national resource!

Pham Ngan