It is the harvest time of red carp.

Fish farmers in many parts of Vietnam, especially in the north, have their hands busy at the moment harvesting red carp. Legend has it that the Kitchen Gods, who are in charge of looking after Vietnamese families and recording their good and bad deeds, ride the fish back to heaven before Tet, or Lunar New Year.

Thuy Tram Village in the northern province of Phu Tho is home to one of the biggest red carp farms in Vietnam. Following tradition, the carp are released into rivers on the 23rd day of the last lunar month, which will fall on Thursday this week, so that the Kitchen Gods can ride them back to heaven and report what humans have been doing for the past year to the Jade Emperor, before returning a day before the new lunar year.

The fish are categorized and sold for different prices. Fish with spots or stripes are less favored.

Farmers in Thuy Tram, 120 kilometers (75 miles) northwest of Hanoi, raise red carp on an area of 30 hectares (3,000 acres) and harvest up to 40 tons of the fish each year.

The fish started mating in June. The stronger fish that are used for mating receive special care and live in a separate pond.

According to farmers, 6 kilos of parent fish produce 200 kilos of fingerlings.

Farmers only sell fingerlings and keep the parent fish for the next season or sell them for a much higher price. “All of my family have to work together at this time of year, and sometimes we have to ask our neighbors for help because we need to catch the fish quickly when we drain the ponds or else they will die from lack of oxygen,” said a farmer named Nguyen Thi Thien.

Wholesalers will sell the fish across the entire northern region, where the tradition of releasing red carp is better preserved.

“My family has produced 300 kilos of fish this year, and we'll sell them for around VND120,000 per kilo,” said a farmer named Ha Cong Vu. He added that the price of red carp is higher this year compared to VND80,000 per kilo last year.

Source: VnExpress