Following the footsteps of people who set traps for eels
(Baonghean.vn) - The people of Nam Anh commune, Nam Dan district are famous for being diligent and hard-working. They do many side jobs to make a living, including catching eels, a job that is said to have changed the lives of many people.
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At the foot of Dai Hue mountain, most of the hamlets have people who work in the eel catching business, but the most concentrated are hamlets 7 and 8, with hamlet 8 alone having more than 30 households. People here have been involved in the eel catching business for decades. Every family that works in eel catching is very good at it. In the photo: Mr. Nguyen The Thanh's family in hamlet 8 is making eel catching. |
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The bait for releasing the nests is earthworms, crabs, and golden apple snails, of which earthworms are indispensable. All are chopped and mixed well. To have enough worms to use as bait for a long time, many households often catch worms and store them in bags in the refrigerator. In the households that practice the nesting business in Nam Anh, it is normal to see that every refrigerator has hundreds of worms in it. |
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Around 1-2 pm, they start making bait. Things like worms, crabs, golden apple snails... are all chopped up and mixed well. For every 100 traps, about 0.5 kg of bait is needed. When the preparation is done, the "trappers" will divide the bait into tubes. Professional trappers usually put bait into the tubes at the same time before closing the "cupping". |
| Eel fishing clip |
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Every day, around 3-4pm, the workers in the hamlets start carrying the eels to the fields. Usually, they "get together" to go in groups of 3-5 people, after arriving at the location, they disperse to the fields. The locations for releasing the eels are getting wider and wider, in addition to Nam Dan, Nam Anh eels are present in many districts in the province such as Thanh Chuong, Do Luong, Anh Son, Hung Nguyen... even to Huong Son, Huong Khe - Ha Tinh. The places chosen by the eels to "bombard" are ponds, swamps, ditches, rice fields... Where the water stagnates all year round, there are many big eels. The eel-catching job is called "wading through the fields" by the "eel hunters" regardless of dirty trash and deep water. |
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| Mr. Ho Viet Chien in hamlet 8, Nam Anh commune - a veteran in the profession shared: Going to release traps, I encountered many sad and happy things, sometimes laughing until I cried. In addition to vehicle breakdowns, dangerous snakes, rain, flooded traps that killed eels, I was also threatened and assaulted by local "gangsters". Many people had all their eels dumped, all their traps taken, and even blackmailed... Mr. Vuong said that many times, people releasing traps in his hometown, when going to collect traps, had to return empty-handed. |
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| Releasing traps is generally quite simple, but to attract a lot of eels, there must be techniques and secrets... According to those in the profession, when releasing traps, the mouth of the trap must be placed close to the mud, the tail of the trap must be raised above the water surface, as long as the eels can easily enter and live in the trap, you need to be careful not to let the trap float or sink right after releasing it. |
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| Around 4-5am, the villagers wake up and call each other to go pick up bamboo shoots. Picking bamboo shoots is the simplest job in the profession. Just follow the mud marks and withered leaves on the banks of the fields and ponds to find bamboo shoots and pick them up. |
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| People who release eels often bring the whole eel basket home, and before selling them, they pour the eels into buckets or basins. Usually, the eels released into the basket are fresh, only on nights when the water is flooded due to storms will the eels die. |
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| Every night, a “catchman” in Nam Anh usually earns about 5 kg of eel, depending on the season and weather. In the summer, the demand for dishes made from freshwater eels increases, so selling eels is quite easy. The “catchman” does not have to bring the eels to the market, but the traders will come to pick them up at home. The current price of eel ranges from 130,000 to 250,000 VND/kg. Although it is hard work and muddy hands and feet, the “catchman” job has brought significant income to many households in Nam Anh. Some families have built houses and sent their children to school thanks to the “catchman” job. |
