Beauty of Phu Yen Viet anchovy fishing season honored with international photo award

Fishing anchovies photo by Nguyen Ngoc Thien. (Photo: Nguyen Ngoc Thien/Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2022)

With the photo “Fishing anchovies”, photographer Nguyen Ngoc Thien beat thousands of submissions from more than 60 countries worldwide to be included in the list of 38 winning photos in 23 categories of the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year 2022 food photography competition. Thien is the winning photographer in the Southeast Asia category.

“The soft light of the new day illuminates the smoke emanating from the fishing boats’ engines and the shape of the green nets moving underwater as local fishermen collect their nets. Many fishing families follow the water close to shore to catch anchovies in high season. Salted anchovies are the main raw material for the traditional fish sauce – the soul of Vietnamese cuisine,” he describes via the photo posted on CNN.

Earlier, photographer Nguyen Ngoc Thien also won the first prize in the "Marine Conservation" category of the Underwater Photographer of the Year 2022 organized by the British Society of Underwater Photographers.

Salted anchovies are the most important ingredient to create traditional Vietnamese fish sauce, but they are also facing excessive fishing. According to the survey results of the Research Institute for Maritime Fisheries, the reserves and fishing output of anchovies in Vietnamese waters has decreased by 20-30% in the past 10 years. "The work is a clear visual reminder of human approach and control over the surrounding environment and its devastating impact on the natural balance," Peter Rowlands, judge at the UPY 2022 award, commented./.