On a late afternoon in 2025, at the An Thanh embankment area (Hong Ngu Ward, Dong Thap Province), a small truck came to a halt by the edge of the Tien River.

From the back of the vehicle, Dang Van Nghi, 27, residing in Long Khanh Commune and members of the Long Khanh Volunteer Team carefully carried down a large plastic container. Inside were special "residents" of the river - giant barbs weighing about 30kg that had just been "rescued" from local farming ponds.

As they reached the water’s edge, the "giant" fish bolted into the current, creating ripples before vanishing into the vast Tien River.

Watching them swim away, Nghia smiled gently. “Seeing the fish healthy and returning to nature makes all our exhaustion melt away,” he said.

That was just one of a lot of “fish rescue” trips the Long Khanh volunteer team has carried out over nearly the past year. These journeys are quiet and low-profile, with no banners and no fixed funding, driven purely by volunteer spirit.

Nghia, the group’s initiator, said the idea came quite by chance during his charity work, such as distributing rice, building charity houses, and delivering vegetables to zero-dong community kitchens. Witnessing people buying fish for release, he recorded short videos and posting them on social media.

The clips unexpectedly went viral, prompting many fish pond owners to proactively contact him and donate entire ponds of fish instead of selling them for food. “Instead of keeping fish confined in ponds or selling them, they want let the fish return to free-flowing rivers,” Nghia shared.

The Long Khanh volunteer team was established in early 2025 with just 12 initial members. Most are self-employed workers, from farmers and carpenters to plant seed sellers, but all share a passion for volunteer work. Their activities are simple yet demand absolute dedication.

From those individual support efforts, Nghia and like-minded friends decided to form a group with a very simple goal: whenever someone calls, they show up, rescuing as many fish as they can.

Whenever a rescue “mission” arises, they arrange their morning livelihoods to gather in the afternoon to catch and transport fish. The group pays out of pocket or mobilizes funds for fuel to rent nets and trucks.

The work is far from easy. If handled carelessly, fish can be injured or die after release. Once the fish are brought ashore, the team coordinates closely to lift them onto the truck, place them in large water tanks, and quickly transport them to protected areas.

“Some days we shiver from the cold, our limbs exhausted, but thinking about the fish returning to the river gives everyone extra motivation,” Nghia said.

So far, the group has released tens of tons of fish back into the wild, including rare species such as giant barb fish and massive catfish weighing from 10 kg to more than 30 kg.

The destination for these rescue trips is the An Thanh embankment area, a zone strictly protected by local authorities, where fishing and exploitation are banned.

Thanks to this protection, the area has now become a “shared home” for tens of tons of fish of all sizes. Pangasius catfish make up the majority, with an average weight of 2–10 kg per fish, creating a rare and striking scene.

Given this special situation, Hong Ngu Ward has established a “community group for protecting aquatic resources” with more than 70 members, including representatives of mass organizations and local residents.

The group is tasked with patrols, monitoring, and public outreach to encourage people to work together to safeguard the “treasure” beneath the river. The return of rare fish species not only carries ecological significance but also contributes to the recovery of aquatic resources.

For Nghia and the Long Khanh volunteer team, the fish rescue journey continues quietly but persistently.

“We do not know exactly how many fish the team has rescued. We only know that every time fish are released back into the river, another hope is planted in the vast Tien River,” Nghia shared.

Do Duy Phuong, Vice Chair of the Long Khanh Commune People’s Committee, said local authorities recognize and highly appreciate the Long Khanh volunteer team’s efforts in releasing fish back into the natural environment, contributing to the conservation of aquatic resources and the improvement of river ecosystems.

Hoai Thanh