Many households in Đà Bắc District raise fish in cages on Hòa Bình Lake, an advantage for developing tourism associated with fisheries. VNS Photo Đoàn Tùng

After the Hòa Bình Hydroelectric Plant was built on the Đà River, Hòa Bình Province is known to have the largest artificial lake in Southeast Asia.

With a length of 230km and a capacity of 9.45 billion cubic metres of water, Hòa Bình Lake stretches 70km across different localities in the province.

With its potential and advantages of a large water surface, the local authority has made constant efforts and issued a number of policies to develop tourism combined with fisheries to push up sustainable development.

According to the master plan of the Hòa Bình Lake National Tourist Area towards 2035, the location will become a key national tourist area in the north, with unique and diverse tourism products associated with the culture of ethnic minority groups and the Hòa Bình Lake ecosystem.

The provincial authorities have issued numerous policies to encourage aquaculture development.

LAKE VIEW: Tourists are interested in fish raised in the lake. VNS Photos Đoàn Tùng

As the locality with the largest water surface in Hòa Bình Province, Đà Bắc District has over 7,000ha of lake surface, many communes are located in the Hòa Bình Lake National Tourist Area planning.

The Đà Bắc District authorities’ policy determined to develop sustainable agriculture and forestry associated with tourism and services to boost socio-economic growth.

Since then, the district has promoted tourism to entice domestic and foreign tourists. Đà Bắc has made a strong transformation, becoming a new countryside thanks to exploiting and enhancing potential and advantages of the lake.

Along with the relatively developed fish cage farming, local individuals and businesses set up a homestay model, community tourism destinations and resorts along the lake to welcome guests.

In addition, Đà Bắc District built large-scale and systematic fish farms.

Most family-owned farms have also invested in and upgraded new types of cages, providing hundreds of tonnes of fish to the market.

At the same time, many activities on cultural and tourism events have been enhanced, such as displaying, introducing and selling speciality products; organising kayaking and walking competitions.

Through that, many tourists have learned about the Đà River fish brand as well as experienced cultural features imbued with local identity.

In recent years, provincial authorities have effectively implemented policies and orientations to promote the aquaculture industry and products from the Đà. Along with that, many solutions have been realised to make tourism a spearhead economy.

Xa Ngọc Hưng, director of Đà Giang Cooperative in Tiền Phong Commune, said that the cooperative was oriented to develop aquaculture associated with tourism. It expanded and renovated fish cages to help tourists experience the fish farming model.

KEY WORK: A farmer takes care of her fish cage in Hòa Bình Lake.

Along with promoting product standards, the cooperative continued to enlarge the consumption market with many designs and products processed from Đà River fish.

The products were pre-processed, processed and sold at stores and supermarkets in big cities, creating stable jobs for local workers, gradually improving life quality.

Xa Văn Thủy, a member of Đà Giang Cooperative, said that since joining, he had grasped techniques for animal husbandry and actively contributed to the orientation of the local cage aquaculture.

Now he has a stable income and hopes to invest in the cage culture combined with tourism services for his household.

Phạm Bích Liên, a tourist from Ninh Bình Province, who stayed at the Xoan Retreat in Mơ Village, said that the way to the retreat was relatively convenient, infrastructure and facilities were also rich, meeting the interests of people of different ages, from the elderly to children.

The retreat was suitable for a short weekend, she said. “Coming here, tourists can admire the poetic majesty of Hòa Bình Lake, and at the same time enjoy the cultural values ​​and typical ethnic cuisine of the locals,” she said.

Trần Duy Văn, another tourist from Hà Nội, praised Đà Bắc District's many resorts with various new features, full of high-class amenities and services, infinity pools, onsens, herbal medicine wooden tubs, saunas, entertainment areas for adults, fishing activities, kayaking and canoeing and more.

With the sustainable growth of aquaculture and lake tourism, all sectors in the province have coordinated systematically and scientifically to provide guidance for cage fish farming households and cooperatives to effectively build aquaculture with valuable aquatic species associated with protecting ecological environment.

In particular, the province will apply Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practices, organic aquaculture and science and technology to aquaculture to increase added value and reduce costs. VNS