La Nga’s breeding rafts relocated under new planning

Breeding Rafts Village: Farmers raising fish in La Nga Bridge area (Dinh Quan district) have to relocate under the new plan. Photo: B. Nguyen

At present, the Dong Nai Culture and Nature Reserve, relevant units and localities have coordinated to mobilize and deploy propaganda of breeding crafts households in La Nga river to carry out the relocation to the planned area under the above project.

Early relocation to avoid damage

Mass deaths of fish in the rafts at La Nga Bridge occurred in the middle of May 2019. Photo: B. Nguyen

According to the project, most of the fish raising households in Dinh Quan district, especially the area of raft fish farming in La Nga Bridge, must be relocated to another farming area. Specifically, the whole district had 168/212 households raising fish and rafts. Of which, Phu Ngoc commune has 122 households and La Nga commune has 46 households to be relocated; 44 households in other areas did not move because they were located in the planned area under the project.

The total number of fish cages to be relocated is 641, of which 555 cages have fish farming with more than 8.7 million fish, including green catfish, snakehead fish, red tilapia fish, red carp, etc. The area to be relocated is from Tam Bung stream to La Nga bridge and from La Nga bridge to Hill 101. Breeding crafts households will be allocated to 5 areas including Tuong stream area, Sa Mach area, Ho area, Dong Nai river section, La Nga river section.

Mr. Nguyen Hoang Hao, Deputy Director of Dong Nai Culture and Nature Reserve, said that it is expected that in May, 2020, the relocation of cages and rafts will be completed in the area of La Nga river to the right position as planned under the project. “The Dong Nai Culture and Nature Reserve will coordinate with relevant units and localities to grasp the situation of the water level of Tri An reservoir to proactively notify households to promptly relocate, avoiding damage due to the mass death of fish in the transition period from dry season to rainy season like previous years.” - said Mr. Hao.

In the same view, Chairman of the People's Committee of Dinh Quan District Tran Quang Tu said that the locality informed and propagated to each breeding crafts household about the new project as well as encouraged farmers to carry out the relocation. “We are focusing all our efforts on mobilizing the fish raising households at La Nga bridge to move to the farming area under the new project before the transition from the dry season to the rainy season, so as to avoid the occurrence of mass deaths in May and June as in previous years.” - Mr. Tu emphasized.

Stable production​

Breeding Rafts Village: Farmers raising fish in La Nga Bridge area (Dinh Quan district) have to relocate under the new plan. Photo: B. Nguyen

Under the scheme, Tri An Lake will have 8 cage and fish raising areas with a total length of rivers and lakes at the lowest water level of over 34 km, the width ranges from 40m-1,200m. Many farming areas are proposed by the farmers themselves, and most of the areas proposed by the people are suitable and in the area planned to arrange cages for functional branches. The total number of rafts in Tri An Lake is arranged to arrange 618 rafts and 1,236 cages, dividing the target of the number of rafts and cages arranged according to the actual conditions in each commune.

In addition to a small number of households changing jobs to the mainland, no more rafts, the majority of farming households also agreed to follow the new plan. Mr. Le Thanh Tam, a long-term raft raiser on La Nga River in Phu Ngoc commune, said he was suspending stocking but he will continue raising after moving to a new farming area as planned because this is his family's long-term livelihood. “We also agree with the relocation of fish rafts before the season-changing period to avoid the risk of dead fish of a kind that used to happen before. However, at this time, the water in the river is still rising quite high, not as shallow as every year, the relocation is difficult and risky, so we want to wait through April for the shallow water to actively relocate.” - said Mr. Tam.

Despite the agreement with the project of “Management, arrangement, stabilization of breeding rafts in Tri An lake”, there are many concerns about the raising of fish rafts when implementing new contents in the project. In particular, the recommendations of the rafters mainly focused on the following contents: security assurance, household registration for households living on rafts, support for rearing techniques, support for capital, breeding animals, support in case of damage, support on markets, infrastructure in relocation areas such as roads, schools, etc. The raft raisers also expect the authorities to regularly monitor, inspect and manage the water resources in the farming areas so that people can feel secure in raising fish in cages in Tri An Lake according to the new plan.

In the new planning project, the content of policy solutions to support fish farmers continues to be stable and production development, which is always focused on: issuing appropriate criteria to implement the project, creating a high consensus in the political system, cage fish farming facilities, businesses and local authorities; propagating and mobilizing establishments that are raising cage fish to implement well the provisions of the project; building mechanisms and policies to support the arrangement, relocation and clearance of excess cages...

By Nam Vu