Cage fish farming in lake area

(Baonghean) - Tuong Duong district has great potential for cage fish farming, which is more than 6 thousand hectares of hydroelectric lake surface. In recent years, implementing the province's production support policy, the district has had hundreds of fish cages on the hydroelectric lake, creating jobs and increasing income for many families...

Mr. Vi Quang Phung's fish cage.

Walking along Khe Bo Hydroelectric Reservoir, through the communes of Thach Giam, Tam Quang, Tam Thai, Tam Dinh and some communes along Ban Ve Hydroelectric Reservoir: Huu Khuong, Luong Minh... we saw fish cages floating on the vast, calm water surface. Some cages were made of wood, some were made of tubes, B40 steel mesh. Stopping at Nhan village, Thach Giam commune, we stepped onto the pontoon bridge made of bamboo trees, to the two fish cages of Mr. Vi Quang Phung's family placed on the water surface of Khe Bo Hydroelectric Reservoir. Mr. Phung's two fish cages were tied together by steel wire, the cages were made of tubes, B40 steel mesh, the innermost layer was a layer of blue fishing net, the mesh was smaller than 1 cm. 3 cables were tightly wrapped around the base of a large fig tree on the riverbank to anchor the two cages. Observing, in each cage there was a school of quite large grass carp, with bare black backs, hovering close to the water surface, begging for food. On the floor there are banana leaves and corn cobs, used as fish food.

Mr. Phung brought out some boiled corn and said: Leave the grass and banana leaves intact for the fish to eat. As for the corn, you have to boil it, use a knife to cut the corn lengthwise so that the corn kernels fall down, which is very good food for the fish. Mr. Phung talked: After retiring, understanding the policy of supporting people to build fish cages of the province and district, along with the encouragement of friends and authorities at all levels, in early 2014, he invested over 150 million VND to make 10 fish cages, of which 5 were made of wood and 5 were made of steel. Each cage was 3m wide, 6m long, and 1.9m high. When asked about the cost of each cage, Mr. Phung flipped through the book and gave details: each steel cage cost 17.3 million VND, and a wooden cage cost 14.2 million VND. Each cage like that can raise 230 - 270 fish at a time. After finishing, he saw that many of his brothers and children were unemployed and facing financial difficulties, so the couple only kept 2 cages, and with the remaining 8 cages, he created conditions for his brothers and children to raise fish together. During the process of raising fish, he often reminded and guided everyone to find food for the fish, monitor and prevent diseases.

In April 2014, he released grass carp fry, weighing 24 - 25 fish/kg. The first time raising fish in cages, it was not too difficult, but it required enough food for the fish every day, so that the fish would grow quickly. He and his wife took turns going into the forest to get banana leaves, cut grass and grow corn to feed the fish, absolutely not using industrial food. After 6 months of raising, he saw that the fish rarely got sick, grew quite quickly, estimated the largest fish was nearly 2 kg, the smallest fish was nearly 1 kg. From now on, he will selectively catch those that weigh 2 kg or more to gradually sell, the rest will wait until Tet to harvest. The price of grass carp meat in Tuong Duong is currently 80,000 VND/kg for traders. Thus, if the weather is favorable, after 1 year of raising, Mr. Phung's family can harvest about 400 kg of meat fish per cage, equivalent to about 30 million VND. Because they do not use industrial feed, they only raise one batch each year, starting from April until the end of the year. According to Mr. Phung, since Khe Bo Hydropower Reservoir started storing water, the water surface area has been very large, the current is not strong, very favorable for raising fish in cages. Therefore, people should take advantage of the government's support policies to invest in building fish cages on the river, in order to create jobs and increase family income.

After each batch of fish, Mr. Phung realized the most basic thing that needed to be overcome, which was the fish fry. The lowland districts did not lack fish fry, but if he went there to buy them, the transportation distance was too far, affecting the health of the fish. Moreover, the water was strange, the climate was not suitable, so when the fish were first released into the cage, they often got sick with flaking disease, and even died. For that reason, Mr. Phung recently boldly discussed with some aquatic engineers at Vinh University, helping him create fish fry on Tuong Duong land. Currently, he has surveyed the land to dig a pond, if all goes well, in the coming years, he will create a fish hatchery to supply to people in the area. Also according to Mr. Phung, most of the households in this highland area have economic difficulties, to build a fish cage, the cost of materials alone is nearly 20 million VND, which is very difficult for them. Therefore, the district needs to do something to help people access the money soon according to the support policy of the province and district. As in the case of Mr. Phung and many other households, although they have been raising fish in cages since April, by November they still have not received support money from the state.

Mr. Vi Quang Phung, Thach Giam commune takes care of fish in cages.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Binh - Head of the District Agricultural Extension Station, said: Tuong Duong has a lot of potential to develop cage fish farming. These are the two hydroelectric reservoirs of Ban Ve and Khe Bo with a total water surface area of ​​6,130 hectares, of which Ban Ve Hydroelectric Lake is 4,700 hectares, Khe Bo Hydroelectric Lake is 1,430 hectares. Therefore, the District Party Congress in the last term considered the policy of cage fish farming as one of the socio-economic development goals in the district. Accordingly, in addition to the province's support policy according to Decision 09 of the Provincial People's Committee, the District People's Committee also issued Decision No. 1529/QDND dated October 18, 2012 to support each fish cage with 6 million VND. In recent years, some farmers in communes along the lake have invested in building fish cages on the lake surface, however, the number is not much, so the annual fish output is insignificant. Since the state's support policy, the cage fish farming movement has developed quite strongly.

Up to now, the whole district has 140 fish cages, of which 103 cages were built in 2014. Communes with many fish cages are: Xa Luong 26 cages, Luong Minh 16 cages, Thach Giam 13 cages, Tam Quang 18 cages, Tam Dinh 35 cages, Thi Tran 11 cages... These households that build fish cages are supported by the province and district with 12 million VND in cage construction costs. After completing the cages, the households invest in buying fish fry and other materials. The fish in the cages are mainly grass carp, some cages in Ban Ve lake are testing the breeding of catfish, bream, and catfish. The biggest difficulty for cage fish farmers is that there is no fish hatchery in the district, so they cannot take the initiative in breeding fish. There is also no business service for food and medicine to prevent diseases for fish in the district. Therefore, if the trial breeding of the above fish fails, it will affect the people's psychology. Therefore, the district needs to have a policy to support these households with breeding stock, in order to create conditions for them to feel secure and bold in their new way of doing business.

According to the Resolution of the 25th Party Committee of Tuong Duong district, the target is to have 396 fish cages by the end of this term. Thus, from now until the end of 2015, Tuong Duong must have 256 more fish cages to reach the set target. According to Ms. Binh, many households have registered to build fish cages, and next year the Agricultural Extension Station will strengthen coordination with localities to propagate the state's support policy for building fish cages for people to implement. However, the district also needs to disburse support money for building cages to people soon, most households have not received support money for a long time after building cages, causing anxiety for people. If the above number of fish cages is achieved, on average each cage catches 400 kg of fish per year, then Tuong Duong will be proactive in over 100 tons of fresh aquatic products each year.

Exploiting the potential of cage fish farming on hydroelectric lakes not only contributes to creating jobs and increasing income for people, but also exploits the potential of the lake to create a source of clean, high-quality aquatic food in the market of this mountainous region, while protecting the water environment. However, Tuong Duong district also needs to strengthen propaganda to guide people to properly implement sustainable aquaculture and exploitation processes. Carry out well the work of timely capital support, livestock farming techniques for people and expand it to a wider area. The district also needs to consider building a fish seed production facility to supply fish seeds on the spot, helping people avoid risks in the quality of fish seeds, as they have had to buy them from the lowlands for a long time.

Xuan Hoang