Staying up all night with the "blinking" squid fishermen in Nghe An

This season, every day around 4-5pm, fishermen in Nghi Tien commune prepare their gear and go squid fishing. The basket boats parked on the beach are carried down to the water and the engines are started to go out to sea. Just a moment later, the squid fishing lights are spread out like stars on the sea.

Each basket boat usually carries 1-2 "fishermen" and simple tools such as batteries, light bulbs, flashlights, fishing rods with hooks, plastic baits, nets, buckets, baskets, etc. They stay up all night to fish for squid at sea. "Staying up all day, plowing at night" is a very familiar saying that people in coastal villages often jokingly say about their squid fishing profession.

The wharf in hamlet 10, Nghi Tien commune, has dozens of fishing boats from neighboring hamlets going out to sea every night. Because most of the young people leave the village to work far away, the squid fishermen are now mainly middle-aged men, including some elderly people, although they are old (over 70 years old), but still enthusiastic about the job.

Around 4-5am, when the fishing boats return, is also the busiest time at the wharf. In the dark night under the flickering flashlights, “post-fishing” activities such as welcoming people back, packing up, buying and selling… take place quite bustlingly and urgently.

Mr. Ho Ngoc Hai (40 years old) - a fisherman in hamlet 9, Nghi Tien commune said, every night at sea, each boat catches about 5 - 7 kg of squid. Depending on luck, we can catch more or less, on a bad night we can catch nothing. Regardless of how much or how little we catch, when the fishing boat returns, we are always welcomed by our relatives with joy and excitement.

People here often catch cuttlefish, squid... After getting on the boat, the squid will be locked in specialized cages, ensuring that when they reach shore, they are still fresh.

Staying up all night to fish for squid at sea by basket boat is quite hard, with many lurking dangers (big waves, strong winds, unusual storms, collisions, etc.), but when they return to the mainland, their fresh squid products are all bought by traders right at the wharf. The selling price at the wharf depends on the type of squid, size, etc., ranging from 150 - 230 thousand VND/kg. Mr. Hoang Duc Chinh - a long-time sailor shared: Squid fishing, some nights you can earn millions, hundreds of thousands of VND, but there are also nights you can earn nothing. The money earned by those who fish for squid by basket boat is truly the salty taste of the sea of ​​a living, which includes both passion, enjoyment, and hardship and difficulty.

According to fishermen, they usually go fishing about 5 km from the shore, but sometimes they have to go as far as 10 - 15 km, if they don't want to return empty-handed. Squid fishing season usually lasts from March to August, but the first 2 months are the most fruitful time. Boats leave in the afternoon, return in the morning, and the dock at dawn is the busiest time for squid fishing at sea.