Post by LSDeep on Feb 21, 2006 20:33:19 GMT -5
Ca ho, or Catlocarpio siamensis, is a giant species of fish weighing from 40 to more than 160kg each and subsists on seaweeds, marine algae and shellfish, and follows a migration pattern from Cambodia to the Mekong Delta in Vietnam
The giant fish is concentrated in the Vam Nao confluence – where the Tien and Hau rivers meet – home to many deep waters holes that provide suitable shelter for this type of fish after it migrates in from Tonle Sap lake in Cambodia.
There are two types of Ca ho: den (black) and hoa ca (spot), of which ca ho den is preferred because of tastier fillets.
What has driven the ca ho to near extinction is the fishing season, which begins in the first lunar month and lasts for four months. Experienced hunters believe the ca ho usually feed on the 13th, 17th, 18th, 25th and 27th days of every month.
Fishermen spread a 70m long and 12m wide net in the river, believing that setting up a channel to catch the ca ho in advance means they claim the right to the fishing area.
Another reason contributing to their extinction is that the ca ho do not take to bait, but like to run headlong into the nets to show its strength every when the tide ebbs, making them an easy catch.
“I’ve never seen a fish like the ca ho. It rushes towards the net and throws itself up and down many times once caught,” said Sau Vien, a veteran ca ho hunter, who caught a 155kg ca ho in 2000.
Glory years
Binh Thuy commune in Chau Phu district of An Giang province has more than 60 ca ho fishermen, who have each caught 30-40 ca ho each. A man named Nam Thu, also known as Nam Ca Ho has caught a record 80 fish.
Thu said he caught his first ca ho in 1980 while spreading nets on a fishing area he inherited from his father. “It weighed more than 150kg and sold for one tael of gold (one tael = 1.25 oz) at that time” Thu recalled, adding he was so happy he never slept that night.
Thu said that after catching the sixth fish, he decided to quit working for the commune police to become a professional ca ho hunter.
He said fortune continued to smile on him rather than on the fish as he later caught dozens of ca ho ranging in size from 50kg to 160kg.
According to custom, if you catch a fish weighing less than 100kg, you must donate a pair of ducks as offerings to the River God and a pig’s head if catching a larger fish.
The reality
Unfortunately, all of the tradition that surrounds catching a fish of this size over the past decades has lead to over fishing, and sadly the ca ho is now in danger of extinction.
Many fishermen have had to turn to other work, having fished the supply of ca ho dry, as the number of ca ho left in the river waters weighing over 100kg can be counted on one hand.
Even the King of Ca Ho, Nam Thu, is changing his work, having gone some years with catching only one of the giant species during a whole fishing season.
Thu recently sold his two fishing areas for 0.6 of a tael of gold, even less than his prized 150kg catch back in 1980.
Reported by Thanh Dung – Translated by Thu Thuy
www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=12859
The giant fish is concentrated in the Vam Nao confluence – where the Tien and Hau rivers meet – home to many deep waters holes that provide suitable shelter for this type of fish after it migrates in from Tonle Sap lake in Cambodia.
There are two types of Ca ho: den (black) and hoa ca (spot), of which ca ho den is preferred because of tastier fillets.
What has driven the ca ho to near extinction is the fishing season, which begins in the first lunar month and lasts for four months. Experienced hunters believe the ca ho usually feed on the 13th, 17th, 18th, 25th and 27th days of every month.
Fishermen spread a 70m long and 12m wide net in the river, believing that setting up a channel to catch the ca ho in advance means they claim the right to the fishing area.
Another reason contributing to their extinction is that the ca ho do not take to bait, but like to run headlong into the nets to show its strength every when the tide ebbs, making them an easy catch.
“I’ve never seen a fish like the ca ho. It rushes towards the net and throws itself up and down many times once caught,” said Sau Vien, a veteran ca ho hunter, who caught a 155kg ca ho in 2000.
Glory years
Binh Thuy commune in Chau Phu district of An Giang province has more than 60 ca ho fishermen, who have each caught 30-40 ca ho each. A man named Nam Thu, also known as Nam Ca Ho has caught a record 80 fish.
Thu said he caught his first ca ho in 1980 while spreading nets on a fishing area he inherited from his father. “It weighed more than 150kg and sold for one tael of gold (one tael = 1.25 oz) at that time” Thu recalled, adding he was so happy he never slept that night.
Thu said that after catching the sixth fish, he decided to quit working for the commune police to become a professional ca ho hunter.
He said fortune continued to smile on him rather than on the fish as he later caught dozens of ca ho ranging in size from 50kg to 160kg.
According to custom, if you catch a fish weighing less than 100kg, you must donate a pair of ducks as offerings to the River God and a pig’s head if catching a larger fish.
The reality
Unfortunately, all of the tradition that surrounds catching a fish of this size over the past decades has lead to over fishing, and sadly the ca ho is now in danger of extinction.
Many fishermen have had to turn to other work, having fished the supply of ca ho dry, as the number of ca ho left in the river waters weighing over 100kg can be counted on one hand.
Even the King of Ca Ho, Nam Thu, is changing his work, having gone some years with catching only one of the giant species during a whole fishing season.
Thu recently sold his two fishing areas for 0.6 of a tael of gold, even less than his prized 150kg catch back in 1980.
Reported by Thanh Dung – Translated by Thu Thuy
www.thanhniennews.com/features/?catid=10&newsid=12859