Song Ngoc fishing industry - Why?

(Baonghean) - While in other localities, fishermen focus on investing in large ships and large machines to fish offshore effectively, in Song Ngoc village (Quynh Ngoc commune, Quynh Luu), many fishermen are selling their "fishing rods" that have been their source of income for generations. Why?

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Although not located near the sea, Quynh Ngoc commune has long had a relatively developed fishing industry, including hamlets 12 and 13 (Song Ngoc village) where people mainly live on marine resources. Before mid-2016, Song Ngoc had up to 36 boats, creating jobs for about 300 male workers directly involved in catching seafood and the same number of women involved in trading fish and marine products. Thanks to that, people's lives were very stable. However, after the marine environmental incident in Ha Tinh, people here sold almost all their boats, and now there are only 5 left.

When investigating the reason why Song Ngoc fishermen sold their boats, while other localities bordering Song Ngoc such as Son Hai and Quynh Long still operate normally, even developing, most Song Ngoc fishermen said that "the products they make cannot be sold due to marine environmental incidents". In addition, Song Ngoc does not have a wharf, so there is no place to anchor, making it very difficult to manage boats as well as sell fish; and the Son Hai bridge over the Thai River - the only waterway for Song Ngoc fishermen to go to sea - is too low, making it impossible for large boats to go out; and small boats are ineffective at staying at sea.

Fishermen in Tien Thuy commune (Quynh Luu) prepare their fishing nets for the next offshore trip. Photo: Duc Anh

In fact, some Song Ngoc fishermen are selling their boats because most of the other localities have now switched to large boats with large engines, at least 4 sao, to go fishing far from shore. Meanwhile, the boats in Song Ngoc are mainly small boats, with a capacity of 70 - 300CV, 2 sao boats for offshore fishing, so they are not effective (weak lights do not attract seafood to come closer). Mr. Nguyen Son in hamlet 12 said: “I used to fish on 2 sao boats, but recently I have not done it anymore because it is not effective. People use 4 sao boats with very strong lights, our boats are “dark”, how can we attract fish and squid, so I and many others have to sell our boats. Moreover, because rumors about marine pollution are spreading too widely, we are afraid that many people are still hesitant to use products from the sea.”

I wonder if some Song Ngoc people are unaware or deliberately link the “marine environmental pollution incident” to marine products in their fishing areas (Northern Gulf of Tonkin)? Do they understand that their awareness and actions of quitting their jobs, along with some unfounded demands for compensation when claiming that seafood in their fishing areas are also contaminated due to the Formosa incident, have created “rumors” that make people afraid to use marine products. The people who suffer the most, and bear the full consequences of the instability in the situation of fishing and consumption of marine products, are none other than fishermen and those who make a living from jobs related to the sea.

Not only that, when asked, if there is a good support policy, are you willing to borrow capital to return to the profession with a big boat and big engine? Mr. Son answered "as if it was pre-programmed": Everyone wants to return to the profession, but as long as "Formorsa" still exists, we have not thought about it! Many fishermen in Song Ngoc also answered the same. It is worth mentioning that most of the people who used to work in fishing and purchasing products from the sea here are now unemployed.

Ms. Dang Thi Nga - a family specializing in producing traditional fish sauce and shrimp paste in Manh Son Parish (Tien Thuy Commune). Photo: Nhu Thuy

Along with the seafaring profession, another profession that has a “close relationship” with the sea here is also very developed, which is the fish sauce making profession. In the past 5 years, thanks to the processing of fish sauce, the lives of many households in Song Ngoc parish have improved, the rate of well-off households accounts for more than 50% of the total number of households in hamlets 12 and 13; the rate of poor households decreased to 6% in 2016 (in 2010, the rate of poor households was over 30%). The fish sauce profession is also creating regular jobs for about 100 local workers with a stable income of 4.5 - 5 million VND/person/month.

It can be seen that Song Ngoc people are extremely dynamic, hard-working, industrious and creative. Although not located near the sea, for a long time Song Ngoc has had a developed seafood fishing profession and it has become a traditional profession when they realized that the sea will bring prosperity and abundance. When the demand for seafood products of the people is increasing, the fish sauce profession has been chosen by Song Ngoc people to develop. The Song Ngoc fish sauce brand has gradually been formed and spread. Building Song Ngoc into a village with a profession is what the people here need to aim for in order to develop.

PV Group