Fishing jellyfish on the Truong Giang River

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QUANG NAM – 1 o’clock on February 14, Tran Minh Hung and his wife, in Tan Hoa commune, Nui Thanh district, took a boat out to the Truong Giang River to catch jellyfish.

In the dark night, jellyfish emerge in flaps. The round jellyfish head called the dome of the hat expands, drawing water in. They then contract, creating pressure to push the water out and forward. With dozens of long tentacles, jellyfish move quickly.

A jellyfish swims on the water.  Photo: Dac Thanh
A jellyfish swims in the water. Photo: Dac Thanh

Mr. Hung uses flippers to steer a slow-moving motorboat, has a flashlight on his head, holds a racket made of a 3-meter-long bamboo pole, and has a net bag underneath to pick up jellyfish. His wife, at the head of the boat, always picked it up. Each jellyfish is as big as a rice bowl and soft and is put into a 20-liter plastic container.

From the 12th lunar month to the next April, jellyfish are concentrated in the tributaries of the Truong Giang river, where the water is brackish. At high tide, jellyfish float a lot, at low tide they float a little. “There are two types of jellyfish on this river, distinguished by color. White jellyfish with red-brown dots are not tasty, not as crunchy as green jellyfish”, Mr. Hung revealed.

In the morning, Mr. Hung and his wife let the boat close to the bank of Vo Chi Cong street, passing through Tam Hiep commune, Nui Thanh district. They lifted each jellyfish, cut off the legs, discarding the body. The result after 5 hours of catching them is more than 10 boxes of jellyfish, selling for 120,000 VND/barrel.

Use the jellyfish scoop.  Photo: Dac Thanh
Fishermen use nets to catch jellyfish. Photo: Dac Thanh

The riverside section of Vo Chi Cong street these days is bustling with small boats and boats selling jellyfish. Fisherman Do Van Long, in Nui Thanh town, said that not every year is a good season, even five jellyfish do not appear. Experience is that at the end of the year there is a lot of rain and flood, then the beginning of the next year will be a good harvest.

“This year jellyfish float a lot, the weather is favorable, so it’s easy to catch. Our fishermen temporarily stopped fishing to switch to catching jellyfish,” said Mr. Long, and shared that to catch many jellyfish, one must know each creek. called slurry). Because there are rivers of jellyfish floating densely, there are sections where no one can be seen.

In addition, if you want to catch a lot of jellyfish, you have to get up early to go to the river, because the wind is less easy to observe at this time. When the sun rises, the wind is strong, creating waves on the water that are difficult to see and jellyfish do not emerge. With more than 20 boxes of jellyfish feet after a fishing session, Mr. Long and his wife sold more than 2 million VND.

Two villagers are removing the belly and selling the jellyfish's legs.  Photo: Dac Thanh
Two villagers are removing the belly and selling the jellyfish’s legs. Photo: Dac Thanh

As a person who specializes in buying jellyfish, Mr. Vo Ngoc Thanh, from Tam Phuoc commune, Phu Ninh district, said that at 5 am every day he left home, traveled more than 30 km to buy 8 boxes. Jellyfish are put in two large plastic containers attached to the back of motorbikes and then loaded with a number of sacks to bring back.

Mr. Thanh then used a pump to spray the jellyfish with water, turning it over and over again to remove the dirt. There are many people who eat the whole jellyfish, but some people only eat the leg part, so it has to be separated. “The jellyfish’s legs are firm and crispy, so it’s popular. Separating the jellyfish only takes a long time, so the price is twice as much as the whole jellyfish,” explained Mr. Thanh.

Jellyfish has the scientific name Scyphozoa, which is a class of mollusks, living in the water. They like an environment rich in plankton such as water lice, whipworms, eggs… Jellyfish are often made into a salad with fish sauce, served with figs, small jackfruit, green mangoes, and vegetables. fragrant, banana flower, green star fruit…

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