Explore the seaside village at dawn

lanh bien.2.JPG — Early morning sea village

At three thirty in the morning, while other villages were still asleep, the coastal villages in Sam Son City, Quang Xuong District ( Thanh Hoa Province) were bustling into a new day.

From the village, under the canopy of the casuarina trees, tractors began to take boats, rafts and fishermen out to sea, starting their fishing journey. Meanwhile, on the beach, there were many wheel axles lying around, proving that many rafts had gone out to sea before. These are the wheels used to “attach” to boats, rafts, then tractors will pull them out to sea or to shore instead of human power.

Clip: Explore the seaside village

As the sky gradually turned brighter, more and more motorbikes poured into the beach from all directions. At this time, the women of the fishing village also began to sit on the beach waiting for their rafts and boats to return.

At around 4:30 a.m., many engines were heard in the distance out at sea, gradually heading towards the shore. Not long after, various boats and rafts came ashore. Each trip to the shore brought back many kinds of seafood. This season, there were all kinds of squid, crabs, shrimp, mantis shrimp (mantis shrimp) and various kinds of fish.

Fisherman Nguyen Van Bong (Dai Hung Commune, Sam Son City) said that in order to get to shore in time for the early morning market, he and his son had to leave the night before. Currently, fishermen in Dai Hung fishing village are focusing on catching crabs, shrimp, squid, mantis shrimp, etc. The rafts that depart early in the morning specialize in catching mussels (sea shrimp). They set their time to leave early in the morning and return around 10am to 12pm to "get the sun" to dry mussels to sell as dried goods.

Around 5am, the beach began to get bustling. The sounds of tractors, winches, and motorbikes mixed with the sound of laughter and chatter resounded throughout the area. The people of the coastal village were accustomed to “eating the wind and talking to the waves”, so everyone from men to women spoke loudly.

And every time a boat or raft comes ashore, an interesting “auction” takes place. The raft owner brings the seafood to the sandbank, and the traders gather around to ask, “How much is this amount of shrimp, crab, squid, etc.?”. After the raft owner gives a “high” price, the traders will bargain and compete with each other. After a period of “haggling”, the trader who “agrees” with the raft owner’s price will be weighed and paid. The seafood is quickly loaded onto motorbikes to head to the early market.

A raft owner happily said that fishing is like farming, when the harvest is good, the price drops, and then the price is forced down. "But whether the harvest is good or the price drops, we fishermen still go out to sea, because this is our livelihood, a profession passed down from our ancestors, we cannot give it up," this fisherman shared.