When catch sizes started to decrease last year, many fishermen on the southern island of Hon Nghe in the Gulf of Thailand made the switch to fish farming.

The island that is about 30km off the coast is part of its namesake commune in southern Kien Giang Province’s Kien Luong District. Once sparsely populated, the island’s rich fisheries and good weather gradually attracted more and more people from the mainland.

More than 500 households live there now, most of them involved in fishing, especially squid fishing. Up until recently, the 350 or so fishing boats there netted a yearly catch of 2,000 tonnes.

The most lucrative fishing on the island, according to Tran Van Sung, an experienced fisherman, is a unique kind of squid fishing.

Fishermen use a special type of large seashell on a line. Pregnant squid are attracted to the shell and crawl inside, then the fishermen pull the line in.

“Pregnant squid especially are tempted by these shells,” he said, noting that up to 80 per cent of the squid they catch were ready to lay eggs.

“It is the easiest and cheapest way to catch squid,” he said.

There had been more than 100 boats fishing in this manner on the island, he said. Each boat could earn VND1 million on average using around 5,000 shells every evening.

Since last April, however, catch sizes have dropped dramatically, hurting the island’s fishing fleet.

A secondary impact of this was Hon Nghe started to lose its young people to the lure of work in the factories of HCM City and neighbouring Binh Duong Province.

“The wealth of sea has been exhausted, and fishermen are frustrated by the high fuel prices,” complained Doan Cong Huy, a fisherman who used shells to catch squid.

Huy blamed the depletion of the island’s fisheries on destructive fishing practices, such as boats that electrified the water to kill everything in range.

“The fleet is not advanced enough for offshore fishing,” he added.

Fisherman Vu Ngoc Deo has stopped relying on fishing every night and has made the switch to aquaculture. Last year he earned more than VND100 million from his cages.

“If we can procure good baby-fish and apply fishing technologies properly, we can make an equal profit for every dong we invest,” he said.

Baby fishes, which were bought from suppliers in Nha Trang or Taiwan, accounted for a large part of expenses, he explained.

At the end of last year, fish cages on the island numbered more than 130, turning out around 65 tonnes of fish for export.

Meanwhile the Commune’s People’s Committee wanted to resurrect the island’s original fisheries. Deputy chairman Huynh Van Nhieu said the authorities would get tougher on destructive fishing practices.

The commune would also send consultants to help local fish farmers with aquatic farming technologies, he added.

A 7.5-km-road has just been built around the island and 95 per cent of the population can access electricity and clean water.

Source: VNS