Fishing ... a tale of ingenuity and effort

Between the photography tour and cycling, I saw many fishing villages and different methods of fishing. The extent of ingenuity that goes into catching fish in this region is amazing with everything from line fishing, traditional nets, traps and huge net contraptions.

What jumps out though is the level of effort required to catch the fish compared to the economic return. In all cases, it was rare to see a catch of more than a few small baskets full. Those catches were typically the result of a night’s fishing by two fishers (typically but not always a husband / wife team). Our guide spoke to one fisherwoman who was selling her catch for the day to a “middle woman” who would take it to market. Her return for the night was US$10.

Having said that, these people did not feel poor. The fishing villages were typically made up of rows of brick houses in good condition. They had little local tea houses where the men would congregate after a days fishing and their children were well dressed and off to school every morning. It is definitely a simple tough life, but I suspect compared to other parts of rural Vietnam, they were doing ok.