The acts of the children of the fishing village

(Baonghean) -“For fishermen, fishing is like asking for blessings from heaven and the sea. Any fish that slips through the net must be caught on board, otherwise it is a blessing from heaven. But we have a different way of thinking. We release strange fish, rare fish, or precious marine creatures like turtles and hawksbill turtles back into the sea. If any die, we will bring them back to shore and donate them to the museum, even if we lose money on fuel…”, said Mr. Vu Ngoc Dien, in Minh Thanh hamlet, Quynh Long commune, Quynh Luu district.

We followed a small alley to Minh Thanh fishing village on a stormy day. The street was deserted but the atmosphere in the houses was warm and somewhat bustling, because the stormy sea is the time when the families of the fishing village gather most fully. This is the time when fishermen gather around a tray of rice wine, and women of the fishing village do not have to sit looking out at the sea, anxiously waiting for their husbands and children to return. In a small house in Minh Thanh fishing village, Mr. Vu Ngoc Dien (born in 1970) slowly told about his fishing life and his destiny at sea.

Following his father to go fishing since he was 12 years old, when he reached adulthood, the dark-skinned boy with a deep voice was present in all fishing grounds near and far in his homeland's sea. After getting married, Mr. Dien became a skilled fisherman, trusted to be the captain of a 320 CV fishing boat, catching anchovies in all the sea channels in the Gulf of Tonkin.

On August 12, Mr. Dien's fishing boat carried 8 crew members to sea to fish using a seine net, catching anchovies in the sea bordering Nghe An and Ha Tinh. After dropping anchor and releasing the first few catches of fish, the next day, while pulling the next net, the crew members were shocked to see a strange, very large fish in the net bag. Trying to winch up the net when the fish had suffocated, everyone was surprised because the fish was so large, with a shape that looked like both a shark and a whale, the first time in their lives they had seen it. Mr. Dien immediately connected the walkie-talkie to the mainland to ask experienced people and even the authorities of Quynh Long commune, but no one knew what kind of fish this was.

At this time, Mr. Dien decided to marinate the fish and turn the boat straight to shore. After nearly half a day, the boat returned to the mainland, thousands of people inside and outside the commune came to see the giant strange fish. After contacting the staff of the Vietnam Museum of Nature by phone, Mr. Dien promised to donate the fish to the museum. The procedure for donating the fish was quick, the Museum supported him with 6.5 million VND, not enough for half the cost of fuel and mending the net, but he and everyone on the fishing boat felt very satisfied. "I heard the staff say this is a whale shark, a precious fish weighing 800kg and will be displayed to serve scientific research. The names of the boat and the people who caught the fish will be attached to the fish display in the museum. Just thinking about it makes me feel elated," Mr. Dien said, laughing out loud.

Quynh Luu fishermen donate fish to the museum.

In the coastal commune of Quynh Long, in addition to Mr. Dien, many other people have donated precious fish to the Vietnam Museum of Nature. In early August 2013, Mr. Tran Xuan Thanh went fishing in the Gulf of Tonkin and caught a giant sunfish. Knowing that this is a rare fish species, listed in the World Red Book, Mr. Thanh brought his boat ashore and contacted the museum to donate the fish. This sunfish weighed more than 400 kg. Before that, in the first two days of September 2012, two fishermen, Nguyen Van Tang and Vu Xuan Trong, also donated to the museum two sunfish weighing 100 kg and 350 kg, approximately 2.5 m in length, with a distance of 2.6 m between the two fin edges.

When it comes to donating rare and precious fish to museums, fishermen in the Quynh Luu sea area always mention Mr. Bui Van Can (55 years old) in Quynh Phuong commune. Mr. Can is a person with a special talent for adjusting propellers for fishing boats. With just two hammers and his own secret, he can adjust the propeller to run fast or slow according to the request of the boat owner. With this special profession, Mr. Can has the opportunity to contact and get to know most of the boat owners in the Quynh Luu sea area.

As someone who has some knowledge about strange and rare fish as well as knowing the contact address of the Vietnam Museum of Nature, wherever he goes, Mr. Can reminds boat owners about these fish species. He tells them that if they catch a live fish, they must immediately release it back into the sea, and if it is dead, they must bring it to shore to donate to the museum, because these fish species are in danger of extinction. At first, many people did not believe it, but after a fishing boat in Quynh Long commune caught a sunfish (at that time, people did not know the name of this fish species), he contacted the Vietnam Museum of Nature to donate it, and was also supported with fuel money, so gradually people trusted him, and whenever they caught a strange fish, they called Mr. Can.

In 2012, Mr. Can himself donated a large sunfish to the museum while fishing in the Gulf of Tonkin. “In the past 2 years, with my direct advice, 8 fishermen have donated rare fish to the museum, which is a very good thing, because people's awareness is gradually changing,” Mr. Can confided.

With a coastline of 82km, a large fishing ground, and more than 4,000 boats fishing day and night in the waters inside and outside the province, these waters have many rare fish species listed in the World Red Book and the Vietnam Red Book. In fact, in the past few years, fishermen in Nghi Loc, Quynh Luu, and Dien Chau districts, after catching rare species such as hawksbill turtles and turtles, have released them back into the sea or donated them to the Vietnam Museum of Nature.

This donation is completely voluntary, many people do not care about the millions of dong in fuel and fishing gear support from the museum, they think that at least they have done something meaningful for their descendants, their names are also recorded in the museum and live forever with the precious fish. The fact that they donate fish to the museum proves that people's awareness of the marine environment and the importance of rare fish species has been raised. Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Van Luc, Chairman of the Scientific Council of the Vietnam Museum of Nature, said that up to now, Nghe An fishermen are the ones who cooperate the most with the museum.

Whenever they catch a rare or precious fish, people report it to the museum without any other requests or demands to donate. “Every time we go to Nghe An to receive fish, we feel the sincerity and willingness of the simple fishermen. In the near future, we will consider awarding certificates of merit to individuals in Nghe An who have made many contributions to the museum's collection of artifacts,” Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Van Luc affirmed.

During the process of researching to write this article, we realized that the fishermen's understanding of rare and precious fish species in the Red Book, in the list of prohibited hunting and trading is a big zero. The fact that they know that the ocean sunfish is rare and in danger of extinction is just a coincidence. The common wish of fishermen in Quynh Long and Quynh Phuong communes is that the authorities have forms of communication to help them understand the importance of rare fish species. Build books and photos to help fishermen identify fish species in the Red Book so that they do not hunt them, or if they do hunt them, they will immediately release them back into the sea while they are still alive and donate them to the museum if they are dead...

Article and photos: Nguyen Khoa