ĐỒNG THÁP — One late afternoon in 2025, a small truck halted at the edge of the Tiền River in the Đồng Tháp Province in the Mekong region, its unusual cargo ready for release.

From the truck bed, 27-year-old Đặng Văn Nghĩ and members of the Long Khánh volunteer team carefully lifted a large plastic container; inside were the river’s special residents: giant catfish weighing about 30kg each, freshly rescued from a resident’s fish pond.

At the water’s edge, the fish darted down, sending ripples across the surface before disappearing into the vast Tiền River.

“Seeing the fish healthy and returning to nature, all the hard work of the team seems to vanish,” Nghĩ said.

It was one of dozens of fish rescue missions that the Long Khánh volunteer team, led by Nghĩ, has carried out over the past year. These quiet journeys are done solely on a voluntary basis.

Over the past year, the group has rescued tonnes of giant fish from farming ponds and returned them to the Tiền River, helping to revive natural fisheries.

Nghĩ told vietnamnet.vn: “The idea of freeing giant fish that were raised in farming ponds to the river came by chance when I took part in charity activities in the province.”

“Witnessing people buying fish to release into the wild, I recorded short clips and posted them on social media.”

He did not expect the clips to go viral, prompting many fish pond owners to contact them and donate entire ponds instead of selling the fish for food.

“Instead of keeping the fish in cramped ponds or selling them, they wanted to give the fish a chance to return to the free waters of the river,” Nghĩ said.

From those individual acts of assistance, Nghĩ and like-minded friends decided to form a group with the simple goal of being there whenever called upon and saving as many animals as possible.

The Long Khánh Volunteer Team was established last year with 12 founding members, mostly self-employed, ranging from farmers and carpenters to seedling vendors, but all share a passion for volunteer work. The group's activities are simple but require absolute dedication, Nghĩ said.

Whenever there is a rescue call, they arrange their morning livelihood work so they can focus on catching fish in the afternoon.

The group uses their own money or mobilises funds for fuel to hire nets and trucks.

The work is far from easy, as careless handling can injure the fish or cause them to die after release.

Once the fish are brought ashore, the whole team works in close coordination to lift them onto the vehicle, place them in large water tanks and quickly transport them to a locally protected stretch of the river.

“Some days we are shivering with cold, our arms and legs completely exhausted, but just thinking about the fish being returned to the river gives everyone extra motivation,” Nghĩ said.

So far, the group has returned dozens of tonnes of fish to the natural environment. Among them are rare species such as giant barb and giant catfish weighing from 10kg to more than 30kg, all successfully rescued.

The destination of the fish rescue convoys is the An Thạnh embankment area, where local authorities have zoned the site for protection and banned fishing.

Thanks to this protection, the area has now become a shared home for tens of tonnes of fish of various sizes. Pangasius catfish make up the majority, with an average weight of two to ten kilogrammes per fish, creating a rare and striking sight.

In response to this special situation, Hồng Ngự ward has established a community-based group for the protection of aquatic resources with more than 70 members, including representatives of mass organisations and residents.

The group is tasked with patrols, monitoring and public outreach to encourage people to jointly protect this treasure beneath the river.

The return of rare fish species not only has ecological significance but also contributes to the restoration of aquatic resources.

For Nghĩ and the Long Khánh volunteer team, the journey of rescuing fish continues quietly but persistently.

“We do not know exactly how many fish the team has saved, only that every time fish are released back into the river, another hope is sown into the vast Tiền River,” Nghĩ said.

Đỗ Duy Phương, vice chairman of the People’s Committee of Long Khánh Commune, said the locality acknowledges and highly values the activities of the Long Khánh volunteer team in releasing fish back into the natural environment, contributing to the conservation of aquatic resources and the improvement of river ecosystems.

“The activity is highly practical, demonstrating a strong sense of responsibility towards the environment and raising community awareness of nature protection,” Phương said.

“We hope that in the coming period, the Long Khánh volunteer team will continue to maintain and further promote these meaningful activities while closely coordinating with agencies, sectors and mass organisations to spread the spirit of nature protection and aquatic resource conservation to a wider public, especially the younger generation,” he added. — VNS