Nghe An fishermen make 'one-sun' dried shrimp to export to China, earning hundreds of millions of VND/day

Hoang Mai fishermen go out to sea to catch shrimp. Photo: Viet Hung

When dawn comes, dozens of shrimp fishing boats of fishermen from Quynh Lap and Quynh Lien communes (Hoang Mai town) return to shore. Their relatives carry plastic trays waiting on shore to receive the results after a night of fishing.

Happy to have caught a lot of shrimp, Mr. Ho Van Hoang in Quynh Lien commune said: "It's been a long time since I caught so much shrimp like today. I spent the whole night fishing and caught nearly 200 kg of shrimp, earning 4 million VND. I hope the next trips will be lucky."

In addition to tons of shrimp caught and sold to traders, fishermen also process them into “one-sun” shrimp for export to the Chinese market. According to fishermen’s experience, shrimp must be dried on a clean cement floor to avoid moisture and dry quickly. With moderately sunny weather, it can be collected after only 2 hours of drying.

The shrimp is dried in the sun for one day and then collected for preliminary processing. Photo: Viet Hung

When dried, the shrimp must be screened to remove particles such as snails, stones, and sand. Only by cleaning them will traders buy them and the products will be easily exported.

“For over a week now, on the coastal tourist route connecting Quynh Luu beach to Hoang Mai town, every day people are busy processing dried shrimp,” said Ms. Linh.

After being dried in the sun, the shrimp is screened and cleaned to be packaged for export to China. Photo: Viet Hung

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thao, whose husband goes fishing for shrimp, said: “This morning’s trip back to shore brought 250 kg of fresh shrimp, and after drying in the sun, there will be about 70 kg of dried shrimp left. Because it has been a long time since the shrimp harvest, the price is higher than before, currently the price of fresh shrimp is 20,000 VND/kg, the price of dried shrimp is 70,000 VND/kg. After a busy day of processing, the family earned more than 4 million VND.”

After the shrimp is pre-processed and cleaned, people pack it into plastic bags to sell to traders. Every day, fishermen from Quynh Lien and Quynh Lap communes (Hoang Mai town); Quynh Nghia and Tien Thuy communes (Quynh Luu) export dozens of tons of "one-sun" shrimp to China, earning hundreds of millions of dong.

Shrimp paste is also processed into sour shrimp paste and shrimp paste, which are quite popular in the domestic market. Photo: Viet Hung

In addition to processing “one-sun” shrimp, Nghe An fishermen also process traditional fish sauce. At the shrimp sauce production facility of Mr. Hoang Van Dong’s family in Hamlet 5, Quynh Lien Commune (Hoang Mai Town), in recent days, the facility has been purchasing shrimp from fishermen for processing. He said that since the beginning of the year, he has purchased about 20 tons of fresh shrimp to process into fish sauce. It is known that shrimp fishing season is usually year-round, however, the main season is usually from April to September of the lunar calendar.

According to traditional experience, the shrimp will be mixed with salt and soybean powder. After 5 months of incubation, the shrimp will be fragrant and fragrant, giving off the salty aroma of the sea. Currently, there are 2 types of shrimp processed: stinky shrimp (commonly called) and sour shrimp; the price ranges from 20,000 - 30,000 VND/kg.