The Fish Scene in Vietnam
An alternative view from a visiting aquarist
by Ron Ruth,
From the newsletter of The Ilford and District Aquarists Society, England
Aquarticles
In the space of five or six months spent in Vietnam it has been very obvious that fish
play a huge part in the lives of the Vietnamese people, principally as food. Drawn to this
country and based in Ho Chi Minh City (Sai Gon in old money) the first sight to interest
(or dismay) any serious aquarist can be seen in Cho Ben Thanh, a huge indoor market
located in District 1 of this sprawling city. Everything commonly worn, eaten or used by
the Saigonese is available here, vegetables, fruits, meat, spices, biscuits, sweets,
spices, tobacco, clothing, hats, hardware as well as gifts and the usual tourist bric a
brac.
It is something of a cultural shock for a Western visitor to see raw meat being sold
literally off the street. The meat and fish section of the market does present a better
picture with almost everything raised off the ground, although the vendors of fish still
squat beside their wares to dispatch the living product, gutting and de-scaling it for the
waiting customer. Squeamish aquarists like me, (I even gave up fishing as a hobby after
keeping them) should avoid this side of tourism. Many fish in the market are not
recognizable to me as they are probably from local waters, fresh or salt. The larger fish,
Tuna etc. is of course sold as steaks cut from the dead but seemingly fresh carcass.
Certainly recognisable have been the Osphronemous Gourami, three or four 10"
-12" specimens to a 3 ft. diameter shallow aluminium bowl, kept barely alive with a
hose of running water, awaiting their fate. I am reminded of one Ilford member and another
East London member, lovingly caring for their pets, each a single fish in a large
aquarium. It seems that aquapets do not have such a bad life after all.
Fish, "Ca" (pronounce 'car' in Vietnamese), and particularly catfish is very
popular and comprises a large part of the diet. Although I have yet to identify it, it
appears to be from freshwater sources. Since the lifting of trade restrictions by the U.S
government in recent years, the export of catfish for the U.S. table continues to increase
despite the protestations from their own (U.S.) market, and a resulting compromise to
avoid its description as a catfish to appease their own fish traders. Talks continue I
understand.
The catfish is usually cooked whole and placed in the centre of the table for each
diner to take pieces as required with the chopsticks. Larger fish such as carp are again
served whole, on a metal plate surrounded by vegetables and the juices and spices in which
it is cooked. This stands on a gas burner in the center of the table so that it remains
hot. I have also been served with a fried fish whole that strongly resembled a specimen
from the larger Characins, although once fried it is impossible to determine which
variety. The fins and tail are still attached, cooked crisp and appear to be considered a
delicacy, although I cannot think why. The taste of the fish was good, but I would
strongly recommend anyone planning to eat fish here to practice eating their breakfast
kippers with chopsticks for six months before their trip. Specialist restaurants of course
all have the fish alive and on display, as do some of the supermarkets where I observed
three or four 12" - 14" live Arowana in remarkably good condition in a 3
ft.aquarium. My main interest there was drawn to the big air pump running almost silently
but providing a vigorous output to a good number of tanks. Oh for one of those in earlier
days of my fish houses.
Every kind of seafood is always readily available here from squid to shellfish but of
course the prawns and shrimps are almost obligatory with any meal. Great heaps of dried
shrimps can be seen everywhere in the market and is either used dried and ground or soaked
to add to dishes as flavouring. No report from here would be complete without mention of
nuoc mam, a rather strong smelling fish sauce that is used with chopped chili as a dip for
everything.
Fish and shrimp cultivation is a complete industry here and a means of survival for
specialist farmers. Both on the Mekong river in the South and in Ha Long Bay in the North
there are real Fish Houses. A floating home built on a raft of drums or plastic covered
containers, with metal cages suspended beneath them, containing the fish in their own
environment, and easily fed from the armchair while watching football on the box and with
a financial reward at the end to boot. My kind of fishkeeping.
The nearest point to the sea from HCMC is about one and three quarter hours by
motorbike to Can Gio. This is a very large island formed from silt at the mouth of the
Saigon River. A very large part of this is mangrove forest used by guerrilla forces during
what is known here as the American War and consequently defoliated with agent orange,
other chemicals and napalm. It is now well under way as a conservation and controlled
biosphere area by the government to hopefully counteract some of the heavily polluted air
from the city.
A tourist trip through part of the forested area gives the opportunity to have food and
other unsecured items stolen by the tribe of monkeys contained therein. A boat trip on the
narrow water channel cut through the mangroves take one to the preserved H.Q. of the
guerrilla frogman force which used to attack the U.S. fuel supplies in Saigon harbour.
This is built entirely from bamboo and palms, on stilts, and is self sufficient in the
swamp. The means to collect rainwater or distill the salt water are still in place and
fish traps from woven palm leaf can be seen close up. The short boat trip does not provide
any changing scenery, but the whole of the mud banks are home to millions of small crabs
and the challenge is to spot the mud skippers, up to about six or seven inches in length.
Because the whole area is built on silt and the natural water supply is brackish or
outright salt, cultivation of crops and use for agricultural purposes is not viable.
Therefore the local population earns a living from the collection and sale of many
varieties of shellfish from the beach. Not here the sight of field after field of green
rice paddies as elsewhere, with the attending women planters in cone hats, or irrigated by
two with a water basket on a rope between them, or a farmer with an ox plough. Here can be
seen shallow ponds, football pitch sized areas plastic lined and used for shrimp farming.
Almost full length down the center is a raised plastic shaft along which is a series of
paddle wheels. At a guess these operate to aerate the water, although only seen operating
in one small section each time. The method of driving them was not immediately obvious.
Not being conversant with the language apart from the usual phrases, the seemingly
amateurish TV programmes are not missed. However, one or two films showing the country's
history and scenery, and in particular a documentary on farming and raising shrimps from
the egg stage was akin to fish breeding and frustrating to view without understandable
commentary.
Another discovered aquatic pastime is the culturing of pearls. Back at Ha Long Bay in
the North I was told of oyster beds for this purpose, and could see the rows of floats
suspending long lines of nets for this purpose. This bay is a tourist spot, is vast in
area and contains over three thousand islands, and so has many sheltered coves where the
water at most times appears mirror-like. A two day boat trip should not be missed, either
sleeping on the boat or overnight spent in a hotel on Cat Ba Island.
Another encounter with pearl culturing took place in a huge park in the city. This
contained a lake with boating, a small aviary and aquarium with mainly sad looking marine
fish. One large tank contained at a guess sixty or more Dragon or Lionfish, some in signs
of distress, which was sad to see. Outside of here though were two very large tiled
shallow pools containing a number of four or maybe five foot long Arapaima. Tucked away
behind this and hidden in a bonsai area, was a small showroom featuring all shapes colours
and sizes of cultured pearls made into jewellery. Here also were a few four foot tanks
with nondescript goldfish, but each tank with a couple of metal (stainless steel?) frames
holding two oysters each vertically. A few enquiries took us to the rear outside, which
contained three or four large concrete water tanks of greenish water with many airlines
feeding them. The young staff readily discussed the seemingly simple requirements to try
this at home, and offered ready seeded oysters at the equivalent of around two pounds
fifty each. Bringing some home for experimenting was considered but the requirement to
splash them with water every few hours on a twelve-hour flight did not seem easy, and the
difficulties of arranging import licences for the U.K. did not seem worth the effort. Pity
though, it seems it is only a few months waiting for results. Perhaps the sellers make
more money selling the oysters than the pearls which they produce.
My only brief encounter so far with dedicated fishkeeping here has been via a Tet
festival display (from 12th to 18th Feb.) in a local park. Tet is a time for flowering
trees and flowers, the trees are locally called Mai and are covered in yellow blossom
cultivated to bloom at this time, bought from tabletop size to man size in ceramic
containers. Yellow Chrysanthemums abound and Orchids of every colour are grown. Flower
displays, fruit displays, singing cagebirds and to my surprise, two stand areas of
aquarium fish. One stand with goldfish, a few koi, and large carp were not very
impressive. The other stand had tanks containing mainly Discus which were impressive in
colour and size. A tank with some good looking fancy guppies but of mixed sexes and
varieties (shame). A tank or two with usual run of the mill tropicals, and a couple of not
very impressive large 'furnished' aquaria. All tanks were behind a barrier at least double
arms length away, and I was not yet familiar with my digital camera's zoom capacity, so
photos taken could be better. On reflection it would have been good to talk to the owners,
if possible, but there seemed to be no one in attendance, or any form of contact notice.
In my early days of keeping fish, I was led to believe that many of the Labyrinth
fishes were kept and bred in the rice paddies, specifically the fighting fish and
gouramis. The question I would ask now, is why? The smaller gouramis hardly provide a
meal, and the larger ones, such as the already mentioned Osphronemous, would
barely have sufficient water depth. The fighting fishes likewise, and apart from
individual owners earning from the sale or practice of fighting fish, it all seems now
very unlikely. Maybe in time to come I may get first-hand detailed information. I suspect
now the information provided to me recently, is the more correct. The fish are freshwater
catfish, such as I saw dispatched in the market, with the same ability to take air at the
water surface, and size increase of no consequence in shallow water due to body shape. I
understand also that the field would have a dip in the centre, so creating a pond when
drained for the rice harvest. This sounds like a more practical and profitable solution.
Finally, I have been taken during this time, to a restaurant specializing in crocodile
meat. But then that's another story... I'll definitely decline the boa, but then I said
that about the croc.
***
If you have a question you'd like to ask Ron about his experiences in Vietnam or
want to share your own experience then please mail him at ron@ilfordaquarists.co.uk
Since this article appeared Ron has had some very interesting email correspondence, the
latest coming from Ms. Nguyen Thu Hue, the Country Coordinator of International Marinelife
Alliance (IMA-Vietnam) with news of their conservation efforts.
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