Cool fishing festival at the end of the year in the highlands of Nghe An

Highland specialties

On the days before Tet, people in the border commune of Tam Hop (Tuong Duong district) eagerly went down to the stream to catch catfish. In Xop Nam village, after only a few hours, more than 20 people caught about 200 kg of catfish. This is the result of the people after a long series of days working together to protect the school of catfish. These 200 kg of fish were then divided equally among 84 households in the village to prepare for Tet. For the Thai ethnic group, catfish is one of the indispensable dishes on the family altar during Tet.

"This is the fourth time this year that Xop Nam village has organized a fishing festival. The previous times were either for holidays or to sell to raise funds for the village," said an official of Tam Hop commune. Although they were allowed to fish in this restricted area, Xop Nam villagers only caught large fish.

People go down to the stream to catch fresh fish to prepare for Lunar New Year. Photo: TH

“Since the village convention banned fishing in some areas, fish have spawned in great numbers. In the past, we cast nets all day without catching any fish. Now, at night, we can even catch fish with our hands using a flashlight,” said Kha Van Truong, from Xop Nam village.

The mackerel is one of the specialties of Western Nghe An, especially in Tuong Duong and Ky Son. This fish species often lives in streams and creeks, and its main food is algae growing on the surface of rocks. The fish meat is white, fragrant, not fishy, ​​healthy and nutritious, the fish bones are very hard and have few bones, and the fatty fat is a nutritious food source that many people love. Because of the high demand and high price, in previous years, the mackerel was caught to the point of extinction. The Vietnam Red Book in 2007 even listed this fish species as endangered (VU) and in need of immediate protection. The mackerel is also one of the six aquatic species that need to be preserved and developed according to Decision No. 5529/QD-UBND in 2013.

After just a few hours, people caught about 200 kg of cool fish. Photo: TH

Like many other highland communes, the schools of cool fish in streams and creeks in Tam Hop commune were mercilessly exterminated. From electric shock, dynamite blasting, to using small mesh nets. In addition, highland people also have another way of destructive fishing, which is to block the stream, then use crushed leaves of the coi tree to sprinkle into the stream. The resin from these leaves will make the fish's eyes sting, dizzy and immediately float to the surface of the water. Just like that, people just use their hands to catch all kinds of fish.

Faced with the situation of gradually depleting fish stocks, in 2018, after many meetings, the Tam Hop commune government decided to protect the fish population with a village covenant. “After developing the project, we brought it to each village for a meeting and the people responded very well. After that, we asked the people to sign a commitment to comply with the village covenant,” said Ms. Kha Thi Ha, an official of Tam Hop commune.

This is the result after a series of days of working together to protect precious fish. Photo: TH

Accordingly, Tam Hop commune has listed many cool streams and creeks where fish often live to prohibit fishing in any form, even fishing. At these streams, prohibition signs are densely placed. In addition, the commune has also installed 6 cameras for surveillance.

For the remaining streams and creeks, people in the commune are allowed to fish, but comprehensive fishing such as using toxic chemicals, explosives, electric shocks and other destructive methods that kill aquatic species such as using coi leaves is prohibited. In addition, people from outside the commune who fish in Tam Hop commune in any form will be expelled from the area. In cases of fishing that are contrary to conventions and village regulations such as using electric shocks or explosives, in addition to being fined, their equipment will also be confiscated. People who go fishing, fishing, scooping, or netting in prohibited areas will be fined 700,000 - 1,000,000 VND for the first time; the second time will be fined 2,000,000 VND.

To detect violators, in addition to the installed surveillance cameras, Tam Hop commune authorities have also established security teams in each village. These teams regularly patrol and monitor along streams and creeks. “In addition, this regulation is also responded to by the people, so they often report promptly when they see violators,” said Mr. Le Hong Thai - Secretary of the Tam Hop commune Party Committee.

Cool fish reproduce rapidly after being protected. Photo: TH

People benefit

After a short time of including the protection of cool fish in the village covenant, the streams and creeks in Tam Hop commune have changed significantly. Realizing the effectiveness of conservation, many neighboring communes have also begun to learn, including Tam Quang commune. This commune has also almost copied the original village covenant from Tam Hop commune to apply to protect the cool fish in Tung Huong and Tan Huong villages. Ms. Kha Thi Hien - Chairman of Tam Quang Commune People's Committee said that previously, Thoi stream was one of the streams with the most cool fish. In addition, cool fish in Thoi stream are considered delicious and clean, because there are no residents along both sides of the stream and upstream. However, in the past 15 years, the fish in this stream have gradually become depleted due to overfishing.

Tam Quang commune then decided to ban fishing in all forms for about 5 km of Thoi stream through Tung Huong and Tan Huong villages. In addition, the remaining streams and streams are also strictly prohibited from being caught in any form of destruction. Monitoring is carried out seriously. "This fish breeds very quickly. It has only been over a year since the conservation project was implemented, but the results have been very clear. We recently sent people to try to catch them, using only their bare hands, but in just half an hour they caught several kilos of fish," Ms. Hien proudly said.

Tam Hop Commune also installed 6 cameras to protect the fish school. Photo: TH

Thanks to effective protection, fish from the restricted areas are increasingly swimming to other areas, so people can catch more than before. While in the past, each kilo of fresh fish was up to 500,000 VND and still not available to buy, now fresh fish are sold everywhere in the market and along the road. In the past, because of the scarcity of fresh fish, many restaurants even used other types of fish to trick customers. However, now fresh fish is only priced at 200,000 - 350,000 VND.

Also according to the Chairman of the People's Committee of Tam Quang commune, according to the regulations of the village covenant, every year, before the Lunar New Year, the People's Committee of the commune will coordinate with the two villages of Tung Huong and Tan Huong to organize a fish catching festival to distribute to the people for the New Year celebration according to customs and practices. In addition, in special cases where it is necessary to use fish resources to solve work tasks, a document will be submitted to the People's Committee of the commune for consideration.

People divide fish to worship on Tet. Photo: TH

Discussing this issue, Mr. Lo Kham Kha - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tuong Duong district said that the conservation of cool fish by village convention is very effective. Therefore, up to now, most of the communes in the area with streams and creeks have learned from Tam Hop commune to implement it. "In the near future, we will work with these communes to guide the communes to have a plan for people to harvest fish in a systematic and scientific way, but we cannot ban it forever. We need to do something that benefits the people so that they will respond," said Mr. Kha.

Meanwhile, Mr. Lo Van Ly - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Con Cuong district said that up to now, 3 communes in the district have included the protection of cool fish in the village covenant, which has initially shown many positive results.