People who raise 'aquatic monsters' on Gam river

Giant fried fish, sometimes up to 70 - 80kg with big heads, flat, dark black, hard like stones, were described as black 'blockbusters', sometimes sunk. river bottom .

About ten years ago, the highlanders of Bac Me District - Ha Giang and the 'close-to-fish' hands made the island world play, because constantly appearing images they hunted giant fried fish a few dozen pounds - ferocious catfish, dubbed the "lord of the river".

A piece of lean, fat, lean, and delicious meat, like turmeric, is placed on the table serving the giants with enough dishes. It was so expensive and attractive that it made people willing to plunge into the riverbed hunts, bringing the 'water monsters' to the banquet table, despite the health, even the danger of life where the water flowed. Wood

But in recent years, giant fried fish gradually shaded. People who once considered hunting fried fish are a daily earner, are now gradually retiring. They turned to a new job more peaceful, easier to live, that is to confine the species 'water monster' Gam river into cages, raising them since their eggs are still alive. They feed on 'water monsters' like people in the bottom feeding tilapia and bream.

A time of fame

Gam River is one of the most important flows in the Northeast, a waterway connecting 4 provinces of Cao Bang, Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang and Bac Can. The famous Gam River is not only because of its grandeur, but also contains the pristine beauty of the "paint and water" place, but it is also the residence of the "five quarter of aqua" (pompano, blue girder, Fried fish, fish lentils, fish suddenly). Fried fish - a fish that lives in fast-flowing waters, engulfing itself in caves in the river bottom, big, drifting like a grainy piece of wood is often called "water monster" by the couple of Gam river banks. Previously, the capture of fried fish was a door to earn a living, but it was also a terror of fishermen.

Giant fried fish, sometimes up to 70 - 80kg with big heads, flat, dark black, hard like stones, were described as black 'blockbusters', sometimes sunk. at the bottom of the river, sometimes it looks like 'seeing people' lying on a large boat when caught. The delicious fried fish meat is famous, has a golden color like turmeric, when it is cut, discharged into every meaty look, attractive.

Fried fish - "water monster" Gam river.

Especially, in the old days, when fried fish was not a luxury food commodity like now, in many villages along Lo River, Gam River, Da River, when catching giant fish, relatives are often Great party opening. They discharged fish meat to the whole hamlet, ate it all, made sour meat, then salted it, hung at the kitchen floor.

A fisherman on the Gam river said : 'In the past, Gam river had fried fish that were big enough to set the fish's heart, sometimes even a pair of trays. The stomach is fried, thick and thick like a pig's stomach, crunchy. The fried fish hunters sometimes only took their hearts together to beat each other, and the whole fish body tensed up for the villagers'.

That time probably went into the past, when the fried fish became increasingly rare, there was a risk of extinction because the hunting was widespread. Mr. Nguyen Van Nguyen (team 1 - Yen Phu town - Bac Me district) was formerly a skilled fish hunter. In his life as a fisherman, he witnessed how many times people caught giant fried fish, he himself also participated in those exciting fried fish carcasses: 'I just Go catch fried fish with the net only. When it got caught in the net, it would be too much, it would be tired.

About 4 - 5 years ago, this North Me region had about 35 - 40 pounds of fried fish, it was normal for me to have cut them like that. Every year I can't catch fried fish; there are 2 to 3 catches per year. August - September is the right season to hunt for fried fish. In the past, there were big fish with 40-50 pounds, only for 20 years of fish. Selling each of them like that is about 12 million '.

Perhaps the life of 'rice in the river market' , especially the dangers and struggles when night struggles with the Gam river, makes Mr. Nguyen have many thoughts: 'Every day I go along Gam river fishing. But thinking that I go to work like this forever is too much, I have to turn to feed it, then it will be long. So I started raising fried fish. The first is to take the seed from the fishermen here, catch small fish, they also bring it back. Until now, the Institute of Fisheries has researched hatching seedlings'.

The giant fried fish weighs nearly half a pound, which the fishermen hunt on the Gam river.

In Bac Me District - Ha Giang, there are also many farmers who grow fried fish, but those who dare to risk a few hundred million dong to feed 'water monsters' like Mr. Nguyen are not many. Accepting 'specialty' fish , have to spend huge amounts of capital on highland residents, which is not simple. 'A cage with fried fish alone costs about 50 million seed money. So, every batch of fried fish takes every year to be harvested ' - Mr. Nguyen expressed.

Having been a senior for more than ten years of raising fried fish on the Gam river, Mr. Nguyen has experienced enough difficulties and hardships, including failures to live with the bloody lessons in the farming of this rare fish. Mr. Nguyen still remembers his early reckless life when he invested more than 300 million in investing in boats, cages and breeds to raise fried fish.

He said in a resolute voice: 'Fried fish never eat bran. Its food is all kinds of shrimps, scaly and juvenile fish; catfish, barramundi is that it does not eat. In addition to the natural environment he ate, I had to feed him that. Up to now, I still go fishing, at least 5 to 7kg of young fish must be caught every day to make food for fried fish cages. Every day when I can't catch it, I have to go and buy fish to feed them. It was a bit hard but the income was more stable, the life was less precarious. My fried fish feed to supply the specialty market in restaurants and hotels forever in Hanoi. '

'Lord of the river' grew in an iron cage

I came to Bac Me in the rainy season, the Gam river water was red and angry like anger. The flow of water is so fast that even the big trees that people hug and even the soft trees like that are not entangled with anything on the surface of the water. On that flow, the iron fish cages of Mr. Nguyen and Mr. Ha are close to the shore, tied to the boats, where their families live. Wanting to visit their houses and fish rafts, one has to go through a small north bridge with 3 babbling old bamboo trees on the river's surface.

The water was so muddy that I could not see any fish, just listening to the sound of the water on the side of the boat. Each cage of fried fish is 3 meters wide, 6 meters long, 1.5 - 2.5 meters deep, raising about 400-500 small fish. When big fish are separated and raised from 100-130 heads / cage. Fried fish live in the herd. During the turbid season, no one could see any fish because they did not float to the surface.

But when the water is clear, each layer of fried fish is piled up like a cake, thin, good and hard to describe, people throw their hands into it, it quietly swims to another place, then . lies still . One year, fried fish only eat for 3-4 months, in the winter, they will "hibernate" like bears, with no food spread they do not bother to touch. The biggest fried fish of hundreds of animals that Mr. Nguyen used to raise and "sell", each weighs 10kg, causing people to carry fish like carrying gas cylinders; Each kilogram of fried fish costs up to 600 thousand VND, bringing him a considerable amount of money.

For years, sticking to the profession, Mr. Nguyen understands fish stocks, caring for fish as his biological children. He confided: "The fried fish in the wild is ferocious, but the fry fish is quite healthy. Raising fried fish is that we have to live with it, to listen to what it lacks, how hungry it is to worry about it. When hungry, the fried fish will move its cage, it will make it impossible to sleep, only when it is full, it stays dormant. When there is any fish swimming like a ornamental fish, running on the water, I know that it is sick, it must be removed. Sometimes I look at fish that are very sick and injured. '

The area of ​​Mr. Nguyen's fish farming, Mr. Ha on Gam river runs through Bac Me.

In the 'aquatic monsters' rearing after Mr. Nguyen, Mr. Tran Thanh Ha (team 1 - Yen Phu town - Bac Me district) still has not much experience so he cannot avoid the initial mistakes in the profession. Mr. Ha said, sad sad voice: 'Damage a lot, stumbling a lot. Here in my house, in March, I released 1,000 animals, counting rounds to kill 700 children. 1,000 breeds are more than fifty million, not including the transport fee. Knowing that the state has a program to support the mountainous people to get rich, I have twice applied to ask for help to the district. Thanks to the state's support, no one has helped. '

The difficulty of raising fried fish is not only possible, it is quite special, unlike other fish farming. Mr. Ha said: 'Fried fish is very slow. From the time of catching the seed to raising it to about 2 and a half pounds, the 3 bales are growing fast. From 3 kgs or more, raising to 7-8kg is a very long time, it only grows a few times a year even though it still eats the same amount of food. The fish tens of pounds in the river, but people have caught it for decades. '

Sometimes, Mr. Ha went to search for caught fish to make food for fried fish, but he was surrounded by bees and burned to the ground. Sometimes, the fish fry are hungry, kicking each other, stabbing dozens of hard-pointed fins into the master's limbs. Mr. Ha raised his arms, held out in front of his face and pointed at each hole in his hand: 'These holes are unknown to ever fill up meat. But it is impossible to let go of fry farming. '

Fried fish are wild, fierce fish but fish hobbyists are gradually tame this fish, bringing it closer to human life. The Gam River is fast, many famous rapids and dangers, the Gam river fishermen still have to face the 'karma of life' , especially when they are killed when they hunt for ' fried monsters'. there's more.

Mr. Nguyen, Mr. Ha are refurbishing the captive cage, which tame the 'water monster' species on Gam river.

Having been able to grow fried fish, the devastating risks in catching fish in the riverbed will be significantly reduced. They will no longer have to risk their lives jumping to the bottom of the fast-flowing river and dive deep into the cave and the alleys of the Gam river to hunt 'water monsters' and then blood, nose and blood leak, sometimes death. 'I was bitten by the bee all the way up, and the fish that stabbed me with all my limbs were still lucky. In general, what profession is that. The group of people who hunted fried fish lost their life. I'm still peaceful and bored, " said Mr. Ha quietly.

Mr. Tran Manh Tuyen - Chief of the district office of Bac Me, former head of Bac Me Agriculture Department - said: 'Raising fried fish on the Gam River is a positive and highly economical way for fishermen. However, this profession needs a large amount of investment capital, but the people are still poor. We look forward to receiving more attention from all levels of government to help people develop this profession, while helping people escape poverty and preserving the precious fish of the Gam river. rare and valuable '.

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