New "bosses" in Dien Ngoc fishing village

(Baonghean) -Men who have experienced the storms of life, women who used to wait for their husbands on each lucky sea voyage, have now become the owners of seafood processing facilities, both getting rich and creating jobs for many workers with stable income. That is the new dynamic business in Dien Ngoc commune (Dien Chau district)...

Fish sauce processing factory of Nguyen Thi Lien's family in Dong Loc hamlet.

Twice a day, the fishing port on Lach Van is still bustling to welcome boats returning from the open sea. But the atmosphere is less hurried, worrying about buying and selling, and the scene of women from each house rushing to the market near and far like before; and when fish and shrimp arrive, there are people in the fishing village, sometimes even the boat owners, taking care of the purchasing; seafood also does not have to be transported far, but only a few hundred meters to the freezer, processing furnace... According to Vice Chairman of Dien Ngoc Commune People's Committee, Mr. Nguyen Van Dung, the whole commune has an average annual seafood catch of over 13,000 tons, so there is a very abundant and rich source of raw materials for developing the on-site processing industry.

Just approaching Dong Loc village of Dien Ngoc commune, you can smell the fragrant smell of specialty fish sauce. On sunny days, the jars, vats, barrels, and jars... distilling fish sauce and shrimp from the main fishing season last year are opened by the workers to dry, and they begin to sort and select the best batches of products to choose the market to sell at a good price. But the hustle and bustle of the work must be mentioned in the atmosphere at the households processing fish for export. The processing facility of Mr. Nguyen Van Hung (50 years old) is quite spacious, but has become cramped because from the inside to the yard, there are hundreds of workers, each doing their own job, selecting and processing the batch of salmon. The owner said that the salmon here, after being processed, is purchased by traders inside and outside the province by car, so everything is imported as soon as it is processed. Processing salmon is quite hard and laborious, requiring diligence and meticulousness, so the income from processing salmon is higher than that of other types of fish and anchovies.

From the story of working, it led to the story of "starting a business". Still with the simple way of talking of a coastal person, Mr. Hung told about his career change of processing salmon for export, "lightly" as if he was talking about a trip to the sea. Since the age of 15, Mr. Hung had known to pay attention to the value of salmon on trips with his father to the sea. That was the first 2 years he did not directly catch seafood but was assigned to be a chef on the boat; preparing 3 meals a day at sea helped Mr. Hung understand the delicious quality of this fish. Later, when he became a skilled fisherman in the fishing grounds of the Central and Northern regions, he kept nurturing a dream: Processing and exporting salmon. But it was not until he was over 30 years old that he was able to save a little capital to "realize" the dream.

The startup strategy is to find a stable outlet, with income and jobs for people in the area. Focus on processing salmon for export. After the meat is dried, the bones and fish heads are dried and ground into powder to make animal feed for animal feed dealers in the district... Up to now, Mr. Hung's facility buys and processes an average of 2 tons of salmon a day; there are days when he has to pay nearly 20 million VND in wages to workers, with income depending on the work and skills, each person from 70,000 to 300,000 VND per day. While nimbly trimming fish bones, Ms. To Thi Dung in Dong Loc hamlet said: "I earn over 300,000 VND a day from processing work. The number of workers with an income of 70,000 - 100,000 VND are the elderly with poor eyesight and slow hands, and children who take advantage of their days off from school to work extra." Thus, a skilled worker in the peak season can earn tens of millions of VND/month, students who work part-time can also earn around 2 million VND... Like Ms. Hoai's family (in Dong Loc) who works at Mr. Hung's facility, with her 13-year-old son working part-time after school hours, the whole month the mother and son have an income no less than that of workers exported to Korea, Taiwan...

Besides the profession of processing packaged fish for domestic consumption and export, fish sauce processing is still considered the mainstay in seafood processing in Dien Ngoc. The whole commune currently has 40 households processing fish sauce and 1 seafood joint stock company, creating regular jobs for many workers. Vice Chairman of the commune Nguyen Van Dung added that on average, Dien Ngoc commune produces 1.7 - 2 million liters of fish sauce per year, of which many processing facilities have achieved hundreds of tons of output. The owners of large-scale seafood processing facilities were mostly fishermen who went to sea and ran retail fish markets. Thanks to catching up with the new business mechanism and seeing the market demand, they have boldly opened a processing business.

Mr. Hung's family frozen seafood processing workshop in Dong Loc hamlet, Dien Ngoc commune.

Today, the fish sauce processing facility of Ms. Cao Thi Nhien (55 years old) is deserted because she is preparing to extract products from the fermentation tanks that have been incubated since the beginning of the year. While waiting for Ms. Nhien to return from the fishing port, we took the opportunity to chat with Ms. Le Thi Thu, a regular worker at Ms. Nhien's fish sauce processing facility. She said: "Fortunately, the locality has many owners and owners of the processing industry, so it creates a lot of jobs for us women. The fish sauce making profession is seasonal, and laborers like me do not consider it as our main profession, but in total, my annual income is nearly 20 million VND. My daily work here is not hard, just the steps of blanching the fish and salting it to the right ratio"...

After greeting customers and assigning work to workers, Ms. Cao Thi Nhien said that her facility processes over 100 tons of fish sauce a year, earning over 100 million VND in profit. She used to do small business at the fishing wharf in the commune, working for the Van Phan Fish Sauce Processing Company in the area. From working for hire, she found that the fish sauce processing job was too hard, with high profits and low risks, so she worked hard to learn and grasp the fish sauce processing formula. After thinking carefully, she decided to quit her job to become her own boss. But when she started working, she realized that there were many difficulties, especially the large capital needed to invest in fish sauce. A fish tank like that costs millions of VND; but to open a facility, she had to make hundreds of tanks.

Then, during the days of struggling to get capital, she met a high school friend who now runs a large fish sauce store in Thanh Hoa, who both lent her money and guaranteed the sale of fish sauce. Delighted, Ms. Nhien boldly borrowed more money from the bank to immediately start the job she had cherished for so long. Ms. Nhien shared: “I was born and lived on the coastal land, so I grasped the situation of fish exploitation in the commune and surrounding area, saw the potential of customers... and from working as a hired hand in the fish sauce business, I accumulated a little experience, so I boldly tried my “luck”. Besides, if I am lucky, the people in the area will also benefit.”

The good thing about Dien Ngoc fishermen now is that those who open a processing business later do not "follow" the profession of those who came before. For example, Mr. Le Van Tuan in Ngoc Tan hamlet does not process salmon or fish sauce but specializes in shrimp. His spacious house is full of dried shrimp products waiting for customers to come to his house by car to buy. Mr. Tuan said that he currently buys 5 to 6 tons of shrimp a day, creating conditions for nearly 40 workers to have regular jobs, with an income of 100,000 - 150,000 VND/person/day. When processing shrimp, the lean part is exported, the shell, head, and tail are ground into starch to be imported to animal feed facilities. Mr. Tuan's facility also earns a profit of over 100 million VND per year...

One afternoon back to Dien Ngoc, go, see and hear, feel the new business vitality of fishermen who previously only knew how to wait for luck on the sea fishing trips of men. The owners and owners of seafood processing in Dien Ngoc now, not only affirm the sustainable development of the profession and create jobs for the villagers, but also sublimate the local seafood specialties, confidently bringing products to penetrate markets everywhere.

D.S - TH