60km away from Thu Dau Mot city, visitors witness an immense reservoir without any waves. One side of the reservoir depends on Phu Giao district’s An Thai commune and the other side belongs to Binh Phuoc province’s Minh Thanh commune.

Nearly 8 a.m, a crowd of fishers occupy banister on the bank. A fisher named Vuong in Phu Giao district with a box of baits both hangs bait on fish hook and observes positions for spreading the fish hook. Vuong said that he focuses on fishing Hemibagrus fish, so his bait box is more special than other fishers’. Preparing baits to angle Hemibagrus fish is a very complicated work. Vuong’s baits include more than 10 materials such as silk cotton, beef brain… In the past, Vuong caught about 20kg of Hemibagrus fish per day.

  Cirrhinus microlepis – a speciality fish of Be river.

Comfortable life thanks on fish

Many fishers have enjoyed a comfortable life thanks to fishing on Phuoc Hoa reservoir. For example, Q. a professional fisher on the reservoir said that he can catch 30-40kg of fish per day.

On Phuoc Hoa reservoir, recreational fishers fish for pleasure or sport, while commercial fishers fish for profit. Even, there are many people wanting to witness fishing of professional fishermen.

  Q. introduces his newly-caught Dameya fish.

Be River’s speciality fishes consist of Hemibagrus fish, Dameya fish, Cirrhinus microlepis and among others. Previously, these kinds of fishes mainly lived in rivers. Today, Phuoc Hoa reservoir lures these kinds of fishes. Therefore, functional agencies should map out research works on reproduction and rule of fishing in an attempt to preserve speciality fishes of Be river.

Reported by C.Son – Translated by A.C