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| Pooling forces to haul seine nets |
Painstaking
At 4:30 a.m., Mr. Tran Van Ho's boat (Phu Loc) started the engine. On the shore, the participants in hauling the seine net were ready. As soon as dawn broke, the net circle narrowed with the power of the boat at sea and the strength of the people on the shore.
That was the first time Mr. Ho's boat and other fishermen had cast the nets. This time, his boat caught dozens of kilograms of eel catfish and other types of fish. Mr. Ho said, " Against last year, this year we had a bumper harvest of eel catfish. Especially since late July, most of the seine-casting boats have landed this type of fish”.
Casting seine is suitable for catching eel catfish - fish with sharp spines on both the pectoral and dorsal fins. With the great skills of veteran fishermen and experience handed down from generation to generation, the boats will move and spread the seines about 1km from the shore. With the harmonious and rhythmic coordination of the boat and the net pullers on the shore, the net will go close to the bottom of the water, gradually closing the arc and cornering the fish into the net.
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| Fishermen cleverly use tongs for picking up eel catfish to avoid sharp spines |
This year, eel catfish have both a bumper harvest and a good price. The trips to catch eel catfish by seines are therefore more rushed and bustling. With the characteristics of a seine-casting job, this labor-intensive work is prioritized in the early morning when the sun has not yet risen.
Mr. Nguyen Ty, a fisherman, said, “If a good harvest is gotten, we can extend the fishing trip until noon. Few boats cast seines in the afternoon because the water is clear, making it difficult for fish to get caught in the net”.
Although they are experienced fishermen, sometimes the seine-casting trips of Mr. Ty and Mr. Ho are not as expected. Mr. Ho added, “Although we know the tides well, casting seines requires luck. On lucky days, the fish caught are counted in quintals. On unlucky days, they are counted in bunches, handfuls, or even just a few small fish”.
Attractive
The luck of a fishing trip is the common fortune of both the people ashore and the boat owners drifting on the waves. Currently, most of the fish caught by casting seine are divided 5:5 - that is to say, the boat owner gets half, and the net pullers get half (usually from 5 to 10 people). Some boats give preferential treatment to the net pullers, with a ratio of more than 4:6.
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| Fishermen skillfully use tongs for picking up eel catfish to avoid sharp spines |
After collecting the net, eel catfish are often brought to the market to sell to traders. The price of catfish depending on the day and size ranges from 40 - 90 thousand dong per kg. Each successful fishing trip can bring millions of dong to fishermen, and those who join in pulling nets also have income and joy. Among them, many children of the fishing village, who have long been familiar with the salty taste of the sea, also desire to challenge themselves in a new "position".
Tran Minh Trung, 15, a "fisherman", who regularly joins in seine-casting trips, shared, "I really like to go hauling seine because this job is very fun and attractive. This year, eel catfish are abundant, I just need to use my strength and follow the instructions of the rope leader, and I will get a share of fish to bring home. On lucky days with a lot of fish, besides cooking for the family, I also sell the surplus fish to buy pens and notebooks.”
This is a type of sea fish with smooth skin, few bones, and a lot of meat. After careful processing, the white, delicious, fatty meat of the eel catfish can be processed into many favorite dishes. Eel catfish are often used to cook hot pot, stew with sour bamboo shoots, grill, make dried fish, and make pemmican. Particularly, eel catfish cooked with rau thôn (sour vegetables) is a dish with an irresistibly delicious flavor, typical of Phu Loc coastal area.
Buying eel catfish early in the morning on the shore, Ms. Tran Thi Ngoc Han, a local, said, “I prefer to buy fish from the boat because the fish are fresh and safe. Now back home, I just need to go to the garden to pick a handful of thôn leaves, add some green bananas, and I will have a delicious, cool, sweet, and fragrant pot of soup for the family at an affordable price. This year, many people hauling seine have a bumper harvest of eel catfish, and I am also happy with the fishermen's excitement ."