Tears of the owner of the lagoon after the flood
(Baonghean.vn) - Investing hundreds of millions of dong in machinery, building dams, and buying fish, but after a big flood, aquaculture pond owners in Nghi Loc district were left empty-handed.
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In mid-October, after a major flood caused by a tropical depression, the weather was sunny, but walking through hundreds of lagoons and lakes for aquaculture and seafood in the coastal communes of Nghi Quang, Nghi Tien, Nghi Thiet... (Nghi Loc district), we noticed an unusually desolate scene.
Only occasionally do you come across a pair of shrimp ponds with groups of people cleaning up tarpaulins and rebuilding dams. This is usually the busiest time of year for aquaculture ponds as they prepare for harvest.
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| Ms. Nguyen Thu Ha was heartbroken when she saw her family's 2.2 hectares of shrimp and crab farms, which were almost ready for harvest, drifting away into the sea in a flash with the floodwaters. Photo: Xuan Hoa |
The reason is that after the storm No. 10 and the recent flood, the dams were flooded and broken, and many shrimps, crabs, and fish that the owners released were swept away by the floodwaters to the ocean. I met some aquaculture owners standing there with blank faces, looking at the water wheels lying silently in the middle of the immense lake.
“It’s over! It’s over, there’s nothing left. Hundreds of millions of dong poured into shrimp and crab ponds are now gone. The shrimp are ready to be harvested, we survived storm No. 10, we thought it would only rain for a couple of days, but who would have thought…”, said Nguyen Thi Thu Ha (born in 1968, residing in Tan Lap 2 hamlet, Nghi Quang commune, Nghi Loc district) wiping away tears.
Ms. Ha's family raises 2.2 hectares of shrimp and saltwater crabs. This season, her family released 460,000 shrimp fry, 160,000 crab fry, and spent more than 250 million VND on machinery. In a short time, the crabs and shrimps will be harvested. But in the flood in mid-October, the water rose suddenly, the bank of the pond broke, and all the shrimps were swept away with the water into the big stream. The crabs and shrimps were also almost all gone. It is estimated that her family suffered more than 400 million VND in damage from the recent flood.
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| During storm No. 10 and the flood in mid-October, 6 white-leg shrimp ponds with an area of 5.1 hectares of Mr. Tran Van Binh's family were swept away by water into the sea with estimated damage of more than 500 million VND. Photo: Xuan Hoa |
Continuing to other shrimp ponds in Nghi Quang commune, the situation is not different from Ms. Ha's family. Some families have borrowed a little capital and are trying to repair broken ponds to release shrimp for the next batch in time to sell for Tet, hoping to recover some of the losses. But there are also households that have lost everything and now have no capital left, all their assets have been mortgaged to borrow money to buy shrimp, build dams, and now there are only empty ponds left.
Sharing the same fate as Nghi Quang commune, dozens of white-leg shrimp farming households in Nghi Tien commune, Nghi Loc district are left with only empty ponds. The dams have stripped the sand banks white, the ponds are dry without a drop of water, and the pond owners do not even bother to look at them because they have nothing left. The owners of the remaining two or three ponds are trying to repair them from the leftovers to restock with new breeds in the hope of recovering some of the losses.
The family of Mr. Tran Van Binh (born in 1969, residing in Hamlet 5, Nghi Tien Commune) is one of the pond owners with the largest white-leg shrimp farming area here with an area of 6 ponds of 5.1 hectares. During this farming season, when his family had just finished processing the ponds and invested in machinery, storm No. 10 hit, tearing apart the entire dam, completely damaging the machinery.
Not discouraged after the storm, he immediately returned with the remaining capital to renovate the pond and machinery. But when the batch of more than 500,000 shrimp had just been released in two ponds with an area of more than 6,000m2Less than 15 days later, the flood in mid-October hit. The entire pond and the newly released shrimp were swept away by the flood water and rising tide from the sea.
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| Some aquaculture and seafood farming households along the coastal communes of Nghi Loc district with their last remaining capital are trying to renovate their ponds after damage caused by floods, but they are still worried about continuing to lose everything as the storm season continues to be complicated. Photo: Xuan Hoa |
In less than a month, two storms and floods have left his family almost penniless with an estimated loss of more than 500 million VND. Now, the only thing left is the house and the land title. He has mortgaged it to repair the pond, hoping that the storms will not take it away again so that he can earn some capital to restore his family's shrimp farming area.
“But while we are rebuilding the pond, we are also worried that the rainy season is not over yet and storm number 11 is on its way. If it is lost again, my whole family will be on the street,” Mr. Binh sighed.
Many families raising white-leg shrimp in Nghi Tien commune are even more miserable than Mr. Binh, as their remaining capital was swept away by two storms and now they have nothing to invest in again, so their ponds are left empty while the loan interest is increasing day by day.
According to a quick report, during the recent flood, more than 929 hectares of aquaculture in Nghi Loc district were damaged. Of which, 75.58 hectares of brackish and saltwater aquaculture were severely damaged, from 30 to 70%. In addition, more than 36 hectares of aquaculture were damaged by 70% or more, concentrated in brackish and saltwater aquaculture areas along the coastal communes such as Nghi Quang, Nghi Tien, Nghi Yen, etc.
Xuan Hoa