Nghe An develops cage fish farming on Lam River

Low cost, stable output

In Anh Son district, there are currently 51 households participating in cage fish farming with 56 fish cages of various types, concentrated in communes along the river such as: Tam Son, Dinh Son, Cam Son, Hung Son, Thach Son, Long Son, Lang Son, Tao Son and Anh Son town. Of which, the largest number is still in Anh Son town area with 16 households and 20 fish cages.

Mr. Pham Van Nguyen lives in Anh Son town, because his house is close to the shore.Lam RiverSo he took the opportunity to build fish cages right on the river. Currently, Mr. Nguyen's family has 3 cages, mainly raising grass carp. Mr. Nguyen said that raising fish in cages requires low investment and care costs. Normally, Mr. Nguyen releases 200-500 fish in each cage, depending on the size of the fish. After 1 year of raising, the amount of commercial fish can reach 5 kg/fish. With the current stable fish price, each year can bring in hundreds of millions of dong in income.

In Anh Son town, after households participated in raising fish in cages on Lam River with high efficiency, in early 2017, Anh Son town Farmers' Association mobilized households raising fish in cages to establish cooperatives to connect with each other in the production and business process. In particular, each household participating in the cooperative is also supported with 2.5 million VND to build cages. If combined with the support costs from the provincial budget, the costs of households participating in the cage fish farming model will be reduced.

Along the Lam River, many households have taken advantage of the large water surface area to invest in cage fish farming. Photo: Tien Dong

ReverseCon Cuong, the movement of raising fish in cages along the Lam River is also quite developed. In Lang Khe commune, where the Lam River meets the Thoi stream, many households have boldly invested in cages to raise specialty fish such as climbing fish, crispy carp, grass carp, etc.

Mr. Loc Van Hoi, residing in Huoi Mac village, Lang Khe commune, started making fish cages 3 years ago. Mr. Hoi said that at first, he only thought of making cages to raise fish for his family's needs. Later, he saw that this model brought stable results, with fish selling for 100,000 VND to 120,000 VND/kg, so he decided to make more cages to raise fish. Up to now, Mr. Hoi's family and his son have 4 fish cages, after deducting the cost of seeds and care, each year they earn more than 100 million VND.

Similar to Mr. Hoi's family, Mr. Nguyen Van Hue's family, residing in Pieng Khu village, after a period of experimental farming, recently boldly invested more than 30 million VND to build fish cages and wooden houses above the cages. The future direction of Mr. Hue's family is to open more services in addition to fish farming to serve the needs of local people and tourists.

Cage fish are often raised with easily available foods such as banana trees and grass, so the investment cost is not high. Photo: Tien Dong

According to people, compared to raising fish in ponds and lakes, raising fish in cages has a lower investment cost. On average, each cage of 30-50m2 has an initial investment of about 30-50 million VND, but can be used for more than 10 years, after one batch is finished, another batch can be raised without having to treat the pond or lake much.

Currently, in Lang Khe commune, there are 14 households participating in cage fish farming and 8 households are registering to receive support for cages and fish fry for farming in the near future.

Ms. Lo Thi Thuy - Chairman of the Commune People's CommitteeLang Khesaid that the commune also identified cage fish farming on the river as a suitable direction to develop the local economy associated with eco-tourism. Through the province's cage fish farming support policy, the commune has also promoted and mobilized people to participate. In the long term, the commune will plan each farming area to ensure environmental hygiene and make it convenient for people to travel and take care of the fish. Ms. Thuy also shared that with stable selling prices, especially during holidays and Tet, cage fish farming on the river is a reasonable choice without too much investment cost.

Con Cuong has nearly 30 square kilometers of Lam River water surface, especially the Chi Khe Hydropower dam area has created a large reservoir area that can develop aquaculture. Currently, the whole district has developed 84 fish cages of all kinds, the fish cage output in 2021 reached about 16 tons.

Mr. Lo Van Ly - Head of Agriculture and Rural Development Department of Con Cuong district

In addition to Anh Son, Con Cuong has a strong cage fish farming movement. Currently, most districts with Lam River flowing through them have people participating in cage fish farming. In Tuong Duong, some localities along Lam River have built quite effective cage fish farming models such as Xa Luong with 11 models, Tam Thai with 7 models, Tam Quang with 7 models. Notably, there are households with up to 8 fish cages such as Mr. Luong Van Co's household in Dinh Phong village, Tam Dinh commune, raising grass carp, catfish and tilapia; Mr. Luong Van Tien's household in Tam Bong village, Tam Quang commune also has up to 5 cages raising grass carp, earning an annual profit of more than 100 million VND.

The province has initially had a policy to support people raising fish in cages, each cage is supported with 15 million VND, not including subsidies for fish seeds, but many people are still not interested. Photo: Tien Dong

On March 30, 2018, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 15/2018/QD-UBND promulgating regulations on the implementation of policies to support agricultural and rural development in the province according to Resolution No. 14 of the Provincial People's Council in 2017. Accordingly, each household raising fish in cages on the river will be supported with 15 million VND to build cages and subsidized fish breeds. This is considered a driving force to promote the development of fish farming in cages on the river.

Disproportionate development

Mr. Lo Van Ly - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Con Cuong district added that in 2021 alone, the District People's Committee issued documents for people to register to build fish cages and subsidize level 2 fish fry. Up to now, level 2 fish fry support has been approved for communes with a quantity of more than 5 tons of fish fry, of which the State's support amount according to the policy is 300 million VND, people contributed 140,664 million VND.

At the same time, 20 fish cages were supported for new households to participate in farming. Compared to the surface area of ​​Lam River flowing through the area, this number is clearly not proportional. Especially communes with favorable terrain and geographical conditions such as Bong Khe, Chi Khe, Con Cuong town have not yet developed the strength of developing cage fish farming on Lam River.

Mr. Lo Kham Kha - Head of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tuong Duong district said: The current cage fish products are still not rich, mainly traditional fish species, there are no aquatic species with high productivity and economic efficiency. This is mainly because people have not been proactive in selecting suitable breeds for the Lam River water conditions.

After 1 year of raising, the fish weight reaches 3-5 kg, with a stable selling price of 100,000 to 120,000 VND/kg as present, this is a fairly stable source of income for people along Lam River. Photo: Tien Dong

Right in Tuong Duong, aquatic breeds are mainly purchased from Do Luong fish hatcheries and other districts in the province, because the district has not yet taken the initiative in the source of breeds, so the quality of the breeds is affected. Not to mention that there is currently no specific research on the Lam River water source in the area below the hydropower source to know which fish species are suitable, but most people are raising them based on personal experience, so the efficiency is not high.

In addition, the water source of the hydroelectric reservoir is unstable, sometimes rising and sometimes falling, causing difficulties for cage fish farming, especially in the Lam River section raised by Khe Bo Hydroelectric Power Plant. On the other hand, cage fish farming on rivers and reservoirs with large areas, so the effectiveness of disease prevention and treatment is low.

In order for cage fish farming to develop, it is necessary to have bold investment from the people, based on the support of the State in terms of breeds and cages. At the same time, localities also need to have appropriate farming area planning, to ensure environmental hygiene, prevent and control fish diseases, and at the same time maximize the advantage of Lam River water surface in cage fish farming, bringing stable and long-term income to localities./.