Longing in Ngoc Minh fishing village

(Baonghean) - It has been a long time since I had the opportunity to return to Ngoc Minh village (Dien Ngoc, Dien Chau). The small village on the banks of Van creek in the middle of the East is quiet, the fishing boats of fishermen lie quietly along the creek that is more than 1km long. Opposite that space, outside the creek, fishing boats of fishermen from neighboring areas are bustling back after days of fishing in the open sea.

Meet Mr. Nguyen Van Giap and members of the craft group sitting mending and threading nets on the 380 CV T90031 ship. Threading nets takes place every year, lasting nearly a month to repair the nets before each new fishing season. For nearly a month now, the crew has been focusing on threading nets, but this work will take nearly another week to complete.

I asked Mr. Giap, with so many boats coming and going in and out of the port, why is Ngoc Minh's fleet still on the shore? Mr. Giap put down his net and looked out to Van creek, where several trawlers were tearing through the water, preparing to dock at Dien Ngoc fishing port. "So you don't understand the purse seine fishing of this village" - Mr. Giap explained that the village's purse seine fishing has a completely different way of catching fish than the trawl fishing. With the characteristic of catching floating fish, you have to wait for calm weather and calm seas to catch fish, as soon as the sea is rough, the fish will all go to the bottom.

Mr. Bac, a fellow boatman sitting nearby sewing nets, interjected: “You see, the sea is so rough, the fishermen still go out to sea to fish every day, but our village’s seine fleet is doomed. Last month, we only went out to sea for 2 days, both trips only had enough money for fuel. The rest of the time we stayed on shore.”

Fishermen in Ngoc Minh village (Dien Ngoc commune, Dien Chau) cast nets on stormy days.

Dien Chau sea area has a fairly large fleet, but most of the fishermen in the coastal communes here practice trawling for a living, only Ngoc Minh village clings to the sea by using purse seine. Purse seine fishing in Ngoc Minh has existed for a long time, the fishermen here believe that the history of the purse seine profession must have been at the same time as the trawling profession. Nearly 200 households in Ngoc Minh village all live by the sea with a fleet of over 70 boats, of which the purse seine fleet has over 30 boats.

With the characteristic of using purse seine to catch floating fish, fishermen have to fish in the open sea, surveying areas where there are floating fish and then using the purse seine to catch them. Unlike the trawling profession which usually uses a pair of boats to pull the net to catch mainly bottom fish, they fish mainly in the open sea.

Mr. Pham Van Toan - owner of a 320 CV purse seine boat is using a sewing machine to sew nets with skillful movements, smiling humorously: "We fishermen, in addition to being able to cope with the wind and waves at sea, are also skilled mechanics!" And men now also do the job of mending nets, which was previously only for women in the fishing village. Along the dike by the village, groups of men sit mending nets, the atmosphere is very bustling...

Mr. Toan added that the purse seine fishing industry only catches fish for 4 main months each year, from January to May. Around June, fishing is often interrupted due to constant changes in the weather. As soon as there is low pressure, storms or monsoons, the boats will anchor again.

While the boat owners are busy with the work of trawling, hoping for the next fishing season, the other boatmen have to find other jobs to earn more income to support their families. Mr. Nguyen Van Trong - Mr. Toan's boatmate, said that during this season, he often goes ashore to work as a construction worker, some people go to the South to work on coffee, but most of them work for the trawlers, and when the sea is calm, they return to go fishing. Each day of working for hire, each fisherman is paid from 150,000 to 200,000 VND, saving to help with the daily living expenses of the whole family.

The income from fishing is unstable during the stormy season, so women here have to work hard to earn a living and provide food for their families. Most of the women who sell fish go to the market to sell for profit to buy rice. "My wife also sells fish all the way to Yen Thanh district, so we have to go far to earn a little more money because it's hard to make a living in this area," said Mr. Bac. It was almost noon, and Ms. Vu Thi Thuy had just returned from the market to the creek, stopping by the boat to remind her husband to come home for dinner in about 20 minutes. In a few short minutes, Ms. Thuy said that going to the market far away was quite difficult, having to wake up at 3am, go to the night market to find a source of fresh goods, and when the weather was still cold, she took her motorbike out of the house in time for the market. Her target customers are cadres, workers, and civil servants to make it easier to sell...

Toan's boat has been on shore for a whole month, and the work of taping the net has lasted for a whole month now, but it is still not complete. Toan said that after several years of fishing, the purse seine has deteriorated, so regular maintenance is needed to ensure fishing. During the main fishing season, his 320 CV boat goes out to sea every day, and if he catches a lot, he can make a profit of 10 million VND, but in winter, he usually catches less. On days when there are no fish, it is normal for the boat to return empty.

“I don’t know if it’s due to climate change, but this winter season, there are fewer fish floating on the surface. It’s the season for anchovies and anchovies, but up to this point, they appear very little. There are days when the sea is calm but Ngoc Minh’s fleet is still on shore. Fishermen are eager to go out to sea, but it’s not effective so they stay on shore,” said Toan. The unusual changes in climate and increasingly scarce seafood resources are constant worries for fishermen.

Although fishing in the open sea area of ​​about 100 nautical miles, the purse seine fleet of Ngoc Minh village is still far behind in terms of facilities, machinery and equipment compared to the trawl fleet in the commune as well as neighboring communes. Even in Yen Quang hamlet located next to Ngoc Minh village, many fishermen have boldly invested billions of dong to upgrade their boats to serve their profession. Fishermen in the purse seine fishing village in Ngoc Minh village still aspire to stick to their ancestors' traditional profession and want to invest in upgrading their boats, but unfortunately, they have no investment capital so they are "powerless". With the income of 100 - 200 million dong/year of fishermen here, investing billions to upgrade machinery and nets is not simple. A new set of nets costs nearly 300 million dong, not to mention the cost of upgrading the machine to a capacity of 450 CV, which requires billions of dong to do.

Therefore, the greatest wish of fishermen in Ngoc Minh village is for the State to invest in upgrading motorboats, improving fishing efficiency, thereby creating a breakthrough in economic development in this land along Van creek.

Thuy Duong