Seafaring profession "backwards"

Man Thai beach is located next to Hoang Sa street, Son Tra district, Da Nang city. Man Thai sea area has Son Tra mountain range on both sides, so the sea rarely has big waves, which is a natural advantage for the locality to develop tourism, and at the same time, it is also an ideal condition for fishermen to exploit the fishery.

Trawling is a method of catching seafood using a net near the shore, the net encircles an area of ​​the sea and a group of fishermen pull the net ashore to harvest the fish. Fishermen in the Man Thai sea area trawl all year round, most suitable in the early morning or late afternoon on calm sea days.

The trawl net has a net wall structure, 500 - 1,000m long, the height of the net wall is greater than the sea water depth, with the lead edge always close to the bottom and the buoy always floating on the water surface.

As soon as the sun rose, the work of pulling the net began, a group of about 15 men joined in. The net was more than 1km from the shore in an arc shape, on the shore this group of people divided into 2 groups standing on 2 sides, pulling backwards and coming closer together when the net was brought to shore.

The men "stretched their bodies" to pull the net with nimble, dark hands and their steps firmly on the sand.

The action when pulling is to hold tightly with both hands on the net rope, face the sea, lean back and pull the net back and forth from the sea to the shore in even rhythms. At this time, the women on the shore have prepared shoulder poles, baskets and crates to hold the newly harvested fish.

The nets are pulled ashore with mainly products such as hairtail, silverfish, mackerel, herring, pomfret and fresh shrimp. Shrimp is a small type of shrimp, about 1-4cm long and reddish brown in color. The locals like to boil it or cook it in vegetable soup. If they catch a few fish or shrimp a day, the fishermen share it with each other and take it home or sell it all right on the beach to tourists and locals.

On days when the fish catch is good, they sort and sell them to traders at prices ranging from 30,000 to 50,000 VND/kg depending on the type. A day of net pulling costs around 500,000 VND/person depending on the amount of fish caught.

The traditional profession of trawling the forest of the Man Thai fishermen has existed for a long time, this is not only a job to earn a living but also a "string to tighten" the solidarity and neighborly love. In recent years, the modern lifestyle in the whirlwind of urbanization has crept into every corner, so the number of people following this fishing profession has decreased significantly. Currently, in the Man Thai ward, there are only 2 groups with more than 30 people regularly practicing this profession. The fish output is also decreasing day by day. That is one of the reasons why local people have to find many other jobs to ensure their lives.

Heritage Magazine