Nghe An: Effective model of releasing water fern to prevent heat for fish fry

Early in the morning, Mr. Nguyen Van Dong in Thanh Binh commune (Thanh Chuong) was present in Thinh Son commune, Do Luong district to choose and buy fish fry. Here, there are always all kinds of fish fry such as: grass carp, bighead carp, bighead carp, common carp, tilapia. Mr. Nguyen Van Dong said: "My family runs a livestock farm, I often come here to buy fish fry, in general, the quality of fish here is good, they grow quickly, the fish are healthy, and have few diseases".

People in Van Son commune (Do Luong) pull fish fry from a pond with water fern; thanks to the cooling effect of water fern, the fish grow well. Photo: Ngoc Phuong

From the beginning of 2018 until now, farmers in Van Son and Thinh Son communes alone have produced over 23 tons of fish fry, of which 8 tons are carp, 7.5 tons are grass carp, the rest are silver carp, silver grass carp, etc., and 3 million monosex tilapia have been produced. In addition to producing fish fry, for fish raised for meat, people here have sold about 6 tons of silver carp, silver carp, silver grass carp, silver carp, etc.

Even in the hot summer months of 38 to 39 degrees Celsius, the fish here still grow well. Farmers here have used water fern to spread on the surface of the pond. Because water fern grows quickly, it creates a vegetation carpet on the pond surface to shade the fish from the sun.

While pulling fish fry in a duckweed pond, Mr. Nguyen Van Tam - a fish farmer in Thinh Son shared: Although it is hot in the summer, the duckweed keeps the water in the pond cool and the fish grow healthily. Moreover, releasing duckweed in the pond also creates a food source for fish, especially grass carp, so there is another "double" benefit of reducing the cost of fish food.

Water fern is also a very suitable food source for grass carp. Photo: Ngoc Phuong

In Thinh Son commune, there is a fish farming area of ​​nearly 20 hectares. The people have many years of experience in fish farming, so for many years, the quality of fish here has been highly appreciated by the Fisheries Department and farmers. Many fish breeds have been kept to standard lines such as: pure Vietnamese carp crossed with Hungarian carp, grass carp, bighead carp, silver carp, tilapia all keeping the F1 line. Thanks to maintaining regular fish production, even in hot months, people still have stable jobs; on average, 2 sao of water surface for fish farming brings in an income of about 7 million VND per month.

The surface of the duckweed creates a vegetation carpet that provides shade for the fish even on the hottest days. Photo: Ngoc Phuong