The Fish Scene in Vietnam

An alternative view from a visiting aquarist

Ron Ruth In the space of five or six months spent in Viet Nam 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 recognizable have been the Osphronemous Gourami, three or four 10/12" specimens to a 3ft. 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 Arrowana in remarkably good condition in a 3ft.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 mirrorlike. 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 mansize in ceramic containers. Yellow Crysanthemums 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 photo's 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 gouramies. The question I would ask now, is why? The smaller gouramies 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 despatched 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 contact him

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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