A salmon pool (Photo laodong.com.vn)Hanoi (VNA) – Hoang Van Ta, 53, was the first person to farm salmon in hiscommune in the mountainous province of Lang Son in 2007 and now he earns as muchas 4-5 billion VND (180,000-220,000 USD) a year from salmon.
MauSon Commune, Loc Binh district is located about 170km northeast of Hanoi, withthe highest peak reaching about 1,600 metres above sea level. The area is afamous tourism site for its spectacular landscape, its tea from tea budsplucked from the mountain’s vast tea fields, and now, for its delicious salmon,as well.
In2007, when Ta traveled to Sa Pa district and had a chance to visit a salmonfarm there, he thought of building the same farm in Mau Son commune, where theweather conditions are similar.
Heinvested 1 billion VND (44,000 USD) in building artificial pools, pumpingmachines, and salmon breeding. But the beginning was hard. Ta had to travelback and forth from Mau Son to Sapa for seven months to learn from theexperience of veteran salmon farm owners. “Breeding salmon is likebaby-sitting. It doesn’t mean success even if you’ve learned by heart all thetheories,” Ta said.
Initially,his salmon died after a short time. “Salmon can only survive in clean water andin temperatures from 5-17oC, anything above which they die. They also need ahigh supply of oxygen in water,” Ta said, adding that it was a hard job.
Atthe beginning, Ta let rain water run directly through the salmon pools, butfound that leaves and other components in the rainwater killed the fish. Aftera while, Ta got adopted other techniques and things improved.
“Salmonare easily caught fungus in polluted water. So in the rainy season, when thewater is mixed with leaves and other kind of waste, I have to stay by the poolsthe whole day and night to filter the water from the stream, or else the fishwould all die,” he said.
Tạalso had to use lots of salt to help the fish stay clean. “Sometimes I have tobuy a tonne of salt a month. Summer is the most difficult time because fishoften get bacterial contamination from stream water,” he smiled.
Startingwith 800, Ta now has 2,000 salmon each year.
Previously,Ta could only harvest salmon once a year, but currently thanks to moderntechnology, he can do so twice a year. A mature fish weighing between 1.5kg and2kg brings in up to 500,000 VND (22 USD) per kilogram.
Tahas been co-operating with another resident in his commune, Trieu Van Trinh, toexpand the farm model. Trinh now has 10 salmon pools with over 3,000 fish.
NinhVan Xa, deputy head of the Mau Son Tourism Management Board, said Ta’s salmonfarming model was the first of its kind in the area and opens up manyopportunities for local residents.
Salmonand sturgeon were first raised in Sa Pa district, Lao Cai province, in 2005.
After10 years, cold-water fish farming has thrived in Sa Pa, with a total output of265 tonnes in 2015.
TheResearch Institute for Aquaculture No 1 is the country’s first cold-waterhatchery and is currently home to nearly 30,000 salmon, including 17,000 maturefish raised from eggs. Each year the centre provides 50-60 thousand salmon roeto the local market.-VNA
MauSon Commune, Loc Binh district is located about 170km northeast of Hanoi, withthe highest peak reaching about 1,600 metres above sea level. The area is afamous tourism site for its spectacular landscape, its tea from tea budsplucked from the mountain’s vast tea fields, and now, for its delicious salmon,as well.
In2007, when Ta traveled to Sa Pa district and had a chance to visit a salmonfarm there, he thought of building the same farm in Mau Son commune, where theweather conditions are similar.
Heinvested 1 billion VND (44,000 USD) in building artificial pools, pumpingmachines, and salmon breeding. But the beginning was hard. Ta had to travelback and forth from Mau Son to Sapa for seven months to learn from theexperience of veteran salmon farm owners. “Breeding salmon is likebaby-sitting. It doesn’t mean success even if you’ve learned by heart all thetheories,” Ta said.
Initially,his salmon died after a short time. “Salmon can only survive in clean water andin temperatures from 5-17oC, anything above which they die. They also need ahigh supply of oxygen in water,” Ta said, adding that it was a hard job.
Atthe beginning, Ta let rain water run directly through the salmon pools, butfound that leaves and other components in the rainwater killed the fish. Aftera while, Ta got adopted other techniques and things improved.
“Salmonare easily caught fungus in polluted water. So in the rainy season, when thewater is mixed with leaves and other kind of waste, I have to stay by the poolsthe whole day and night to filter the water from the stream, or else the fishwould all die,” he said.
Tạalso had to use lots of salt to help the fish stay clean. “Sometimes I have tobuy a tonne of salt a month. Summer is the most difficult time because fishoften get bacterial contamination from stream water,” he smiled.
Startingwith 800, Ta now has 2,000 salmon each year.
Previously,Ta could only harvest salmon once a year, but currently thanks to moderntechnology, he can do so twice a year. A mature fish weighing between 1.5kg and2kg brings in up to 500,000 VND (22 USD) per kilogram.
Tahas been co-operating with another resident in his commune, Trieu Van Trinh, toexpand the farm model. Trinh now has 10 salmon pools with over 3,000 fish.
NinhVan Xa, deputy head of the Mau Son Tourism Management Board, said Ta’s salmonfarming model was the first of its kind in the area and opens up manyopportunities for local residents.
Salmonand sturgeon were first raised in Sa Pa district, Lao Cai province, in 2005.
After10 years, cold-water fish farming has thrived in Sa Pa, with a total output of265 tonnes in 2015.
TheResearch Institute for Aquaculture No 1 is the country’s first cold-waterhatchery and is currently home to nearly 30,000 salmon, including 17,000 maturefish raised from eggs. Each year the centre provides 50-60 thousand salmon roeto the local market.-VNA
VNA
