Discovering age-old fish drying craft in central Vietnam

Located in the central province of Quang Nam, Binh Minh village is well known for selling dried fish.

The fish harvesting season begins from April and typically lasts through to August.

Fish cutters are hired in order to remove the scales, guts, bones, and heads of fresh fish after they are caught.

During the peak season, dried fish producers must hire additional workers in order to clean, debone, marinate, and dry the fish in the sun.

There are dozens of fish steamers working at one time, with fishes steamed continuously for up to five minutes depending on different species.

Fishes are moved to the steaming area.

A worker is in charge of steaming the fish.

Steamers are usually busy for the entire day.

After being steamed, the fish is then brought outside for drying.

Dried fish is subsequently sold to traders throughout Khanh Hoa province.

Dried fish is in high demand, and production workshops operate at full capacity.

Workers often check dried fish to ensure their quality before sales.

Each production workshop hires between seven and 10 workers on average.

During sunny days, it normally only takes one day to dry the fish.

Fishes are collected, packed, and then transported to traders.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, local villagers earned a lot of money from exporting dried fish to China.

A woman says that fish drying has helped her to earn an extra income over the past dozen years.

A large scale production workshop can be seen from high above.