“Sweet fruit” from mangrove forests

This season, at around 4:30 a.m., Ms. Hoang Thi Tien rides her motorbike along the breakwater from her house in Thanh Binh residential group to the mangrove forest in Bac Chau residential group (same ward as Ngoc Son, Thanh Hoa province).

After leaving her car on the embankment, she waded into the mud and entered the mangrove forest. From there, she “stayed” in the forest until noon, before the tide came in.

Ms. Tien’s job is to “hunt” for the “bom bop” – as the locals call it. This is a species of clam. When the tide goes out, the bom bop hides under the mud. But through the “breathing holes” of the bom bop on the mud surface, the “hunter” discovers them and simply digs the mud with their hands and catches them.

Mangrove forests - "green dykes" protecting villages

Around 11am, Ms. Tien came out of the forest with her things in hand. Her clothes were covered in mud and sweat.

Although she was very tired, she was happy because she caught a lot of bom bop. With the selling price of 15,000 VND/kg right at the forest gate, Ms. Tien earned about 300,000 VND.

In-depth talk about mangroves

In a forest not far away, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Truyen (73 years old, Lien Thanh residential group, Ngoc Son ward) is also busy hunting oysters on the mudflats. This is a species of oyster that lives in the mud under the mangrove forest, different from milk oysters that cling to rocks and hard objects.

Mrs. Nguyen Thi Truyen hunts oysters in the mangrove forest

Ms. Truyen said that in addition to oysters, there are many other species inside and around this mangrove forest such as crabs, loach (a species of loach family), cobia, mullet, etc.

Every day, Mrs. Truyen “picks up” enough in this forest to “make ends meet”. In addition to finding food for her family, on days when she is full, she sells it and earns at least 150,000 VND to 200,000 VND.

Mrs. Truyen happily said: "Thanks to the mangrove forest, even old people like me don't have to worry about starving. Only the lazy will starve! No need for fishing tools, just a knife, and that's enough to eat."

According to Mrs. Truyen, mangrove forests not only protect villagers from the wind and waves, but also provide food, so our ancestors taught us that the forest is as precious as the forest, and that is why we should eat from the forest.

Dr. Vu Van Luong, Institute of Agriculture - Natural Resources and Environment, Vinh University, an expert in mangrove research, commented: "It can be affirmed that mangrove forests have "boundless" value, protecting the ecosystem of estuaries and coastal areas, regulating temperature; limiting erosion, saltwater intrusion, protecting coastal resources from the destruction of waves, storms, rising sea levels, high tides; preventing desertification of cultivated land inside mangrove forests".

Nowadays, climate change is complicated, difficult to predict and control, the role of mangrove forests becomes especially important.

According to Dr. Vu Van Luong, through surveys, mangrove forests are areas for aquaculture development that bring high economic efficiency and sustainability, such as combined shrimp-crab farming models, extensive shrimp farming; clam farming, snail farming, grouper farming, etc.

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Mangrove forests are also the development environment of many aquatic species with high economic value, and are the breeding ground of many waterfowl, migratory birds and some animals such as monkeys, crocodiles, monitor lizards, weasels, etc.