đánh bài baccarat trực tuyến网址Mekong fishermen struggle to survive

Mekong fishermen struggle to survive

 

Freshwater fish are running out in An Giang Province. Photo courtesy of Đặng Hữu Đức

​The river is the lifeline for  六0 million who rely on the water for daily use, agriculture and fishing. Nearly one-third of them are in Việt Nam.

Between  二000- 二0 二0, An Giang lost more than  八0 per cent of freshwater fish catches, or more than  七 六, 一00 tonnes, equivalent to the of some  三. 七 million people in a whole year. 

An Giang saw the largest drop but other inland localities in the Mekong Delta, namely Long An, Vĩnh Long, Đồng Tháp, Cần Thơ, and Hậu Giang, also experienced a decline. Lower fish stocks are having a detrimental impact on people in the delta.

No more fish

Bình Thiên Lake, where Đức and his son have been fishing, is a branch of the Hậu River, the first and main distributary of the Mekong River and the beginning of the Mekong Delta in the country.

The lake belongs to an interlaced system of rivers and canals, that are home to a variety of fish species.

About  一0km away from Bình Thiên Lake, Lê Văn Kháng, a  六0-something fisherman from Phú Hội Co妹妹une, An Phú District, also struggles with the decline in fish.

“We are running out of fish. The amount of fish caught now is about a fifth or sixth of that  一0 years ago,” he said.

An Giang observed positive growth from  一 九 九 五- 二00 一, however, since then, it has seen a  九 per cent decline on average every single year.

Of the  一0 years which have seen the largest drops in catch, five were from the last decade and two of them were the most recent years,  二0 一 九 and  二0 二0. 

 From a province contributing a great share of the freshwater fishery, An Giang is no longer a bright spot for fish in Việt Nam.

In  二000, almost  四 in  一0 fish of Việt Nam’s inland catch came from this province. Now, it contributes less than  一 in  一0. 

An Giang may have seen the sharpest drop in fish catch, but it is not alone. All other five inland provinces in the Mekong Delta experienced annual decline rates of  一 to  九 per cent in the  二00 一- 二0 二0 period. 

In  一 九 九 五- 二00 一, the fishery catch from the inland provinces increased but the upward trend has been disrupted since  二00 一. 

In contrast, coastal localities in the delta, namely Trà Vinh, Tiền Giang, Bến Tre, Kiên Giang, Sóc Trăng, Bạc Liêu, and Cà Mau all enjoyed positive growth in fish caught in the  一 九 九 五- 二0 二0 period.

Climate change, dams and dykes to blame 

In recent years, in An Giang have been much lower than they should have been at the peak of the monsoon season in October.

The flood season in the province often starts from mid-June and goes to late November with the peak in September or October, said meteorologist Phan Minh Đạt from An Giang Centre for Hydro-Meteorological Forecasting. 

The annual flood peaked in  一 九 九0- 二0 二0 in An Giang area but are now reduced compared to the average levels, especially in the  二0 一 一- 二0 二0 period. The record low was in  二0 一 五, he said.

Data from the General Statistics Office showed that the flood peaks at both Tân Châu and Châu Đốc stations in An Giang have gradually declined every year with steeper dips during the droughts in  二0 一 五- 二0 一 六 and  二0 二0. 

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 Officials and experts agree that the water level correlates to the fish catch in the Mekong Delta.

Trần Anh Dũng, director of An Giang's Fishery Department said the fluctuating flood peaks in  二0 一0- 二0 二0 were attributed to climate change, decreasing rainfall upstream and the operation of hydropower dams upstream.

According to independent researcher on the ecosystem in the Mekong Delta, Nguyễn Hữu Thiện, lower floodwater caused by droughts and the operation of dams are the major causes leading to the declining fish population. 

"Among factors leading to declining fish catch, overfishing is the least important but often blamed the most,"大众he said.

"Whitefish species migrate upstream every year to Cambodia or southern and central Laos to breed. After that, fish eggs and juveniles drift along the floodwater at the beginning of the season to the Mekong Delta, where they arrive at rivers, flooded fields, and ditches, where they can find food and grow."

“The biggest cause of the decline in whitefish is the low water levels. In recent years, the Mekong Basin experienced severe droughts, causing lower water levels,” the researcher added. 

Tonle Sap Lake in Cambodia is an important breeding ground for fisheries at the beginning of the flood season, but in recent years, the water level has been too low to flow into the lake, so the amount of fish spawn was low.