Nghe An fishermen open sea at the beginning of the year and catch hundreds of tons of anchovies.

This morning, January 8, the fishing boat NA 99589, captained by fisherman Ho An in Quynh Nghia commune, returned to shore, the first voyage of the new year. Leaving port on December 30, 2019, to the Gulf of Tonkin to exploit seafood, after nearly 10 days of fishing, his boat caught about 12 tons of fish (including 10 tons of shellfish), and returned to shore to rest.

"Although the first fishing trip of the new year did not yield much, compared to previous trips, the crew members were excited because they had income. After deducting expenses, each worker had about 4-5 million VND/person," said fisherman Ho An.

Many fishing boats returned to shore in the first days of 2020, catching anchovies; on average, each boat caught 7-10 tons; some lucky boats caught 20-30 tons, earning hundreds of millions of dong. According to fishermen, the purchase price of anchovies at the wharf was 13,000 VND/kg, which was higher than the previous occasion.

In particular, due to the recent lack of fish catches, most of the fish that returned to shore were purchased by traders.

Seafood traders buy seafood at Lach Quen wharf (Tien Thuy). Photo: Viet Hung.

“The fish that come ashore this time are fresh and big, so we buy them all for fishermen. In addition to buying them for preliminary processing, steaming and drying for export to China, many households also buy this type of fish to make sun-dried fish for consumption during Tet,” said Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh, a trader in Tien Thuy commune (Quynh Luu).

It is known that after this trip, expected around December 17 of the lunar calendar, fishermen from Tien Thuy, Quynh Long, Son Hai, Quynh Nghia communes... will continue to go offshore to catch seafood and then return to shore to celebrate the traditional Lunar New Year.

Anchovies are purchased, processed, steamed, dried and exported to China and Laos. Photo: Viet Hung.