Since early this year, the fishing wharf of Sa Huynh in Duc Pho District, Quang Ngai Province has been animated with the return of convoys of offshore fishing ships, each full of fresh tuna.

We were at the fishing wharf of Sa Huynh when the morning was just dawning and we saw a row of over 20 refrigerated trucks, each with a capacity of 20 tonnes, ready at the wharf to wait for fishing ships.

Hoang Mai, a tuna trader, told us that since early this year tuna was one of the most favourite export products so many traders flocked to the wharf to collect tuna.

Hoang Mai has been collecting tuna for five years for seafood processing companies in Ho Chi Minh City so she has more experiences than others. She often pays fishing ship owners a deposit before each trip to the sea so she always collects a large quantity of tuna.

“The season of tuna only lasts from March to August so if I do not pay them ahead, it is rather difficult to try to outdo one another in buying tuna,” said Mai.

When the sun had just risen above the sea, the fishing wharf was noisy and crowded with traders and relatives of fishermen. Seeing us taking photos,Tran Van Tinh, a 70 year-old man, got into a conversation with us.

In Sa Huynh, Tinh is well-known as an experienced fisherman who had long trips tothe sea in Hoang Sa and Truong Sa Archipelagos to catch tuna. Many locals said that the time he lived in Hoang Sa and Truong Sa was even longer than on the mainland.

With his experience gained from many years catching fish in the sea, Tinh told us: “Only looking at pink clouds in the early morning, I am sure that the ships catching tuna in Hoang Sa this month will have a bumper crop”. Tinh did not finish speaking, and we heard a long whistle of the ship owned by Nguyen Binh in La Van Village in Pho Thanh Commune.

Binh who looked suntanned and wore no shirt showing his strong muscles called upon other fishermen to anchor the ship and cheerfully shouted: “we got about 12 tonnes of tuna, each about 40kg-100kg.”

His ship caught fish in the fishing ground in Hoang Sa for 12 days and they saw a shoal of tuna so they returned earlier than planned. Following Binh’s ship, other ships one after the other arrived at the wharf. Seeing the ship owners who looked happy we guessed that they all met fish shoals.

When the sun rose high, along the 500m wharf there were 50 ships. The wharf became more bustling than at any time of the day. Tinh took us to the ship of his son, Tran Van Tai. When we arrived, all tuna in his ship had been transported to the fridge trucks and the fishermen on his ships were dividing with each other a 60kg tuna as a present for their relatives.

“We sold all tuna from this trip at high price, from 80,000-120,000 VND/kg, depending on the size of the fish. After reducing all expenditures, we each earn about 15 million dong. It is the season of “full sea” and there is nothing happier than seeing the fish shoal and it was very easy to catch about one tonne of tuna each day,” said Tai.

For locals in Quang Ngai, “full sea” means the season of having a bumper crop and they will earn a great profit.

Source: VNP