Experiencing many ups and downs, the fishermen “out of time” in the fishing village of Man Thai (Da Nang) are still working hard to bring their nets to the sea to pull fish. For them, this is not only an income earner but also a cultural feature.
Around 4 pm, when the sun still hadn’t gone out, Mr. Tran Van Cuong’s group (69 years old, living in Son Tra district, Da Nang city) brought nets, brass, baskets, etc. to Man Thai beach to drop the nets to “hunt”. fish near the shore.Going to the beach, Mr. Cuong determined the direction of the wind and then pointed in the direction where there were fish. Then he urged the team members to quickly finish the work to start sailing out to sea to cast nets.When the net is ready, one end will be kept on the shore, and the rest of the fishermen use a basket boat to carry it to the sea more than 2km from the shore, releasing the fins to form a semicircle.
Watch the old fisherman team of Man Thai fishing village pulls the net
After the net was released, Mr. Cuong looked into the distance and saw the fish jumping out of the water. He shouted loudly: “Pull it, brother..!”. Hearing the signal, 15 people standing on the shore immediately divided into two groups, joined forces to pull the net, and retreated to the shore.According to the locals, this profession dates back to ancient times. In the past, boats did not have engines, and fishermen had to row by hand to bring their nets to the sea. Currently, every basket is equipped with an engine, so pulling the reels becomes easier and more convenient.Using all his strength to pull the net with the chant “1…2…3, pull”, Mr. Cuong shared, 30 years ago, he was a strong fisherman, and a long-time seafarer. Now that he has become an “old fisherman”, his health is not good, so he switched to pulling nets to earn income.“Actually, this profession has been done by my family for many generations. Personally, I have been attached to the fishing net for nearly 30 years. After going back and forth at sea, I will go back to clinging to the net so I don’t miss the job,” said Mr. Cuong.Also pulling the net, Mr. Phan Van Vu (65 years old) shared, in order to pull the net to the shore, the worker must tie a leather belt around his body, one end is tied to the rope connected to the net, so go backward. gradually to shore.“Pulling a net with more or less fish depends on “good weather.” The day is calm, the work is less strenuous, and when the sea is rough, you can’t get any fish out of sweat, “Mr. Vu said.After more than two hours of trawling, the first catch came ashore. A man rushed to the sea to search for fish and shouted: “You’ve won the scad…!”. At this time, the group of people pulling the net were all excited when they saw the silver bars struggling and shining in the net.“This batch has scads, seabirds and anchovies … about 50kg. With this amount of fish, each person in the trawl team earns 200,000 VND (9$), which is enough to spend the day,” said Mr. Tran Phi (58 years old). estimate.According to Mr. Phi, many years ago, each catch of nets could collect a ton of fish, selling several million dongs. However, fishery resources are now reduced, sometimes pulling the net up to empty, and the whole group goes back empty-handed. Although it is so hard, for “out of time” fishermen like him, this double-three-hour-a-day job is still quite leisurely and healthy.
