The reputation of Nam O fish sauce has been affirmed by many people. Over the past years, the taste of Nam O fish sauce has always followed the standard of rich saltiness. A drop of Nam O fish sauce brings the quintessence of the art of making fish sauce with its own unique flavour. Now, the geographical indication is like a ‘ladder’ to elevate the product brand, promote the reputation of the craft village, and at the same time ‘guide’ consumers to the place name ‘Nam O’, protect the craft village products from counterfeit goods and bring the national soul and national quintessence of Vietnamese cuisine to the world.

Geographical indications contribute to enhancing the brand of Nam O fish sauce products. Photo: KHANH HOA

The Nam O Traditional Fish Sauce Craft Village Association currently has 72 members with three cooperatives, ten relatively large-scale fish sauce processing facilities, 17 facilities registered for their own brands, and the remaining households working seasonally. In 2019, the traditional fish sauce making craft of Nam O was recognised by the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism as national intangible cultural heritage.

In 2024, the Da Nang Department of Intellectual Property under the Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology issued a certificate of geographical indication for the city’s Nam O fish sauce products. Recently, the Lien Chieu District People’s Committee issued detailed regulations to manage and protect the geographical indication ‘Nam O’. This is a milestone officially recognising the unique value and quality of Nam O fish sauce, helping customers know and trust this fish sauce brand more and more.

Mr. Tran Ngoc Vinh, the Chairman of the Nam O Traditional Fish Sauce Craft Village Association, expressed that after many ups and downs, the geographical indication of fish sauce products will ‘open the door’ for the city’s products to affirm their brands, reach out to the world, and create an attraction for cultural and tourism development.

“Nam O people are famous for taking care of fish sauce like taking care of their children, the attention to each stage shows the love and respect for the gift of fish and salt from the sea. Nam O fish sauce has a salty taste with a long lasting sweet aftertaste. From here, the need to affirm the origin of goods, improve the lives of people in the craft village is greater to protect honest traders, prevent individuals from taking advantage of the community brand and increase the value of products commensurate with the potential”, Mr. Vinh expressed.

In recent years, investment in advertising, trade promotion, and development of the Nam O fish sauce brand has been effectively implemented. More than 5,000 domestic and foreign tourists have come to local fish sauce production establishments to learn more about the process of making this speciality. Along with that, business activities are increasingly developing; production scale is increasingly expanded; output increases gradually every year; the market is increasingly expanding both domestically and internationally.

According to Mr. Bui Thanh Phu, the Director of Huong Lang Co Fish Sauce Company Limited, a member of the Nam O Traditional Fish Sauce Village Association, through detailed regulations to manage and protect the geographical indication ‘Nam O’ according to the instructions issued by the Lien Chieu District People’s Committee, it will help people feel secure in doing their job in a more stable and sustainable way..

“Like a person’s life, traditionally-made Nam O fish sauce also has many ups and downs. The fish sauce profession once stagnated when the firecracker profession flourished, people relocated to do projects and were affected by mass-produced fish sauce. Many fishermen sold earthenware jars and boats, gave up the sea profession, whilst young people were less interested in following their predecessors’ time-honoured craft, thereby causing a shortage of craft successors.In fact, geographical indications, by affirming the origin and quality of goods with distinguishing signs, have created an added value of 30 - 50% for the product. Individuals and businesses like us will strictly comply with the detailed regulations to manage and protect the geographical indication ‘Nam O’ issued by the Lien Chieu District People's Committee”, Mr. Phu affirmed.

According to the Da Nang Department of Science and Technology, to date, the investigation and survey have been completed to assess the current status of production and business, the level of consumer trust, and the history and the reputation of Nam O fish sauce products; research on the natural geographical characteristics of the production area; build a map of the current status of the production area and the zoning of climatic characteristics (temperature, rainfall, day-night temperature range, hours of sunshine, radiation) of the production area; build a map of the geographical area corresponding to the geographical indication ‘Nam O’ fish sauce of Da Nang at a scale of 1/10,000.

Reporting by KHANH HOA - Translating by A.THU