Residents of Nam Mau Commune are faced with a dilemma: how to support their families, protect the delicate ecosystem of their surroundings and stay true to their culture.

The answer, many residents are finding, could lie in tourism.

"I don't want the traditional culture falling into oblivion," says Nguyen Thi Hang, a 42-year-old woman from the Tay ethnic minority, who runs a guesthouse in Bo Lu Village. Six years ago, Hang supported her family by singing Tay songs and playing traditional musical instruments as part of a 15-member group, under a project launched by the offices of tourism and culture of Ba Be District and Ba Be National Park.

"Singing plays an important role in the spiritual life of ethnic minority people, and it will connect them forever; it is an indispensable," she says.

The group disbanded when several of the women moved to distant villages, and Hang worries that she is no longer doing enough to promote her cultural heritage. Now, instead of singing then and playing the tinh at her guesthouse, she works as an accountant for the Nam Mau Commune People's Committee.

"I have no more time for singing the traditional songs because I have to care for my children," Hang laments.

What's more, Hang fears that the younger generation won't carry on the traditions of her home in mountainous northern Bac Can Province.

"We want to change the young people's attitudes toward the music, but the initial step now is to improve their living standards by creating more jobs for them. Life has changed so much and youngsters want to get rich. They need something to pull them back to traditional habits," Hang says.

She believes a bolstered tourism industry might be a means to both employ the youth and draw them back into the lifestyles of the area's ethnic minorities: the Tay, Mong, Dao and Nung. Though some young people are choosing careers in the growing tourism industry, many more are opting instead to follow in their parents' footsteps and work in the fishing, farming and logging industries.

Sandwiched between Ba Be Lake and Ba Be National Park, Bo Lu Village is in close proximity to a wealth of natural resources, and many of its 2,000 residents have long been taking advantage of them. Excessive exploitation has taken its toll on the natural habitat, however, and, all the while, residents are still earning only VND1.5 million (US$94) each year.

The lone fisherwoman

After she married, for years Ma Thi Thuy spent most of her time at home, doing housework, weaving and tending to her family's 2,000sq.m of rice fields - while struggling to find time for her children.

She saw her husband's income rising from fishing in Ba Be Lake and decided to learn the trade too, though no other Tay women in the village were participating.

"Like other Tay women, I could hardly find time to take care of my two children. I couldn't support them with farming, and I knew that fish were available in the lake," Thuy says. "I found that if I just rowed the piragua into the middle of the lake with a net, I could get some fish for meals after only a few hours."

Thuy began following her husband to go fishing in the 6,000sq.m lake behind their house, where she grew adept at handling the 200m-long fishing net. In the mornings, she and her husband would wake up before dawn to draw up the net they had cast the afternoon before.

The couple would then collect their catch and sell the fish at Nam Cuong Market, 3km from the lake, where they could typically rake in at least VND100,000 ($6.25).

But that was in past years, when the lake was full of pike, snake-head and carp. Now, the lake has been suffering from the effects of excessive exploitation and pollution, and local residents are also vulnerable.

"Chemicals and waste have polluted the lake, which is one of the reasons we can only catch small fish now. Still, fishing is easier than rice farming and brings us a little cash," Thuy explains.

Thuy's husband also ventures upstream to fish for sturgeon at Dau Dang Falls, where he hopes to get rich from bigger catches. Many other fishermen have had the same idea, however, and there aren't enough fish for all of them. Thuy's husband hasn't netted a sturgeon for months, she confides.

She's banking on the Long Tong Festival - the biggest Tay cultural event of the year - to provide a market for grilled and salted fish and give her family a financial boost.

Aware of the declining number of fish and other alarming trends, park administrators have been trying to steer residents away from destructive practices such as overfishing and deforestation with incentives and regulations: net fishing in the lake has been banned to keep the lake clean and full of fish.

As one of the 27 ASEAN heritage gardens, Ba Be has the potential to attract naturalist tourists with its 1,268 species of plants and animals.

This past summer, rangers discovered three herds of Francois' Langur in the park, a sign that efforts at reforestation and preservation have paid off.

"It's a sign that the forest has been restored. The appearance of a considerable number of Francois' Langur in the park will make it more attractive not only to tourists but also to biological experts," Nong The Dien, vice director of Ba Be National Park says.

Finger-pickin' good: Nguyen Thi Hang plays the traditional musical instrument tinh to entertain tourists in Bo Lu Village.

An alternative

Recognising the growing problem of protecting the local environment and supporting its residents, the administration of Ba Be National Park is looking for ways to make alternative industries - such as tourism - more profitable.

Doing so, however, involves both attracting more tourists and financing residents' efforts to cater to them.

"We have to find a sustainable solution to benefit both the local people and the park," says . "I think offering ecological tours is an effective way to improve the living standards of the local people and conserve the park," Dien said.

Supported by funding from the national park and Ba Be District, a few ambitious Nam Mau Commune residents have launched tourism initiatives.

For over 10 years, Ngan Van Toan has been offering tourists homestays in Pac Ngoi Village, allowing him to support his four-member family with VND20 million-30 million ($1,250-1,875) per year - three times as much as he ever made farming.

Six other households have arranged deals with Ba Be National Park allowing them to provide services including boating on the lake and taking trekking tours in the forest with local guides.

Youngsters in Pac Ngoi Village learn to play the tinh and sing then.