Mekong Delta in flood season

These days, local farmers are busy harvesting Dien Dien flowers or spreading nets to catch fresh-water fauna.

People in the Mekong Delta are busy catching aquatic products when water from the upper Mekong River floods. This year flooding has come earlier than usual and is rising higher, turning rice fields into big ponds. 

The hillocks rising out of the water is chosen as a place for aquatic product trading.

There are many specialties found exclusively in the flooding season including Linh fish which are small but delicious. 

Linh fish-based dishes are favored by the locals and any visitors to the southwestern region. In Can Tho city, the fish are sometimes sold at US$8.8 a kilo.

Nguyen Thi Ngot of Vinh Trinh commune in Vinh Thanh district says it’s quite difficult to buy this kind of fish if you don’t go to the market early.

“Young Linh fish are now much sought after so the price is very high. The saying “it’s as cheap as Linh fish” has become a story of the past. It is now more expensive than that of pork and other kinds of fish,” Ngot added.

The Thom Rom fishing-net making village in Can Tho City is working day and night to serve fishermen. Some households have to hire 100 to 300 workers during peak season. 

On average, each workshop sells about 200 products of various types. The purchasing power has, over the past few days, reportedly increased up to 20% against last year. 

Nguyen Van Ly, the owner of a fishing-net weaving facility, told VOV that flood season is the time when his family and others in Thom Rom village operate at full capacity but sometimes they can’t meet the customers’ demand.

“The number of clients this year is higher than previous years. Our sales have increased about 30% but the price hasn’t fluctuated much. Floodwater comes early thus the demand is higher,” said Ly.

Specialties of the flood season are much sought after.

The flood season creates numerous jobs for local villagers. Nguyen Van Tuong, a fisherman of Thoi Ung commune in Can Tho, says: “The flood season is the time farmers will have more income. Whenever the flood arrives early, there will be more fish and shrimp.”

To protect the rich source of aquatic products brought by the early arrival of flood, Mekong Delta provinces have increased communications for fishermen on how to exploit it properly. 

An Giang and Dong Thap, the two provinces in the riverhead, are banned to catch fish when they are too young or in the reproductive period.

The flood season brings in an abundant aquatic resource for the Mekong Delta, enriches the area with fertile alluvia, and attracts a great number of visitors to explore the region. 

Local provinces are proactively diversifying tourist products characterized by the Mekong Delta culture.