Net-mending profession of women in coastal Nghe An

The entire Quynh Luu district has about 1,200 fishing boats, of which the fleets of Quynh Long commune account for about 1/3. Each boat and ship after a trip out to sea needs to hire a net repairer, creating jobs and income for a large number of women. The net repair team in Dai Tan village, Quynh Long commune regularly maintains about 15 - 20 women, operating according to the "orders" of the boat and ship owners after each trip out to sea to catch seafood. Photo: Ngoc Khanh

Therefore, the net-mending profession in Quynh Luu district in general and Quynh Long commune in particular has been maintained from generation to generation, almost becoming a tradition, creating jobs for many workers and being a unique cultural beauty of the coastal commune. The net-mending profession attracts mainly female workers, of all ages, from students to the elderly over 70 years old. Photo: Viet Phuong

There are many types of nets used in fishing, such as trawl nets, purse seines, cast nets, fixed nets and cages... In Quynh Long commune, the type of net that is most often mended by boat and ship owners is the purse seine net. The whole commune has about 160 boats and ships, with a capacity of nearly 60,000 CV, of which more than half are purse seine boats for offshore fishing. Ms. Tran Thi Thanh - a net weaving team in Dai Tan hamlet, Quynh Long commune, said that each type of net has a different way of mending. To master the way of mending, a person must be diligent in learning and practicing for 3-6 months, even 1 year. In addition, people doing this job must also understand the types of nets and be self-taught and creative to have a good income. Photo: Ngoc Khanh

A fishing net, depending on the type, can be worth billions of dong. Each time you catch a fish, it is more or less damaged, the meshes are broken and need to be patched before the next trip. The job of mending nets requires both speed and patience. Women have to divide the work into each mesh to find the broken part. "If only one mesh is broken, there is no need to patch it. Only those with 2-3 or more broken meshes need to be patched so that the fish do not fall through the net, reducing the fishing efficiency. The tool used to mend the net is a small knife used to cut off the excess fishing line before patching it with a specialized patching needle. The mesh patching needle is mainly made of plastic" - a member of the Dai Tan hamlet net patching team said. Photo: Viet Phuong

Each net patcher is paid 90,000 VND/day. Each set of seine nets as shown in the picture, depending on the level of damage that needs to be patched, requires about 3-4 workers to work hard for 4-7 days to complete. In addition to receiving "orders" to bring the nets home to patch, the women also accept quick net patching right on the ship, with a salary of 150,000 - 200,000 VND/day. Mainly ships that need urgent patching and the nets are not often punctured will hire quick patching on the ship. Each worker in the net patching team can earn 2-3 million VND/month on their free days. Photo: Ngoc Khanh

However, according to the women in the net mending group, currently, more and more ships and boats are going out to sea, many fishermen on sea trips are quitting their jobs, going abroad to work or looking for other jobs due to reduced income, unstable fishing output, leading to a decrease in "orders" for net mending. Photo: Viet Phuong

Despite concerns about fewer sea trips than before, the needle threading and net mending profession is still a regular source of employment for women in coastal areas. And this profession is still passed down from generation to generation. Currently, according to the leader of the People's Committee of Quynh Long commune, after achieving the new rural standards, the commune will continue to build and maintain fishing logistics that bring high economic value and stable income to the people such as: Seine net fishing complex, seafood processing, net mending, sea transport and labor export... creating and maintaining regular jobs for more than 5,000 people of working age. Photo: Ngoc Khanh

Source: https://baonghean.vn/nghe-va-luoi-cua-phu-nu-vung-bien-nghe-an-post276232.html