"Hunting" sea urchins

From dawn, along the coast of Hon Chua, Hon Dua, Hon Lao, Hon Tien, many fishermen have been riding motorboats, rowing basket boats, diving deep under the rocks near the shore to hunt for sea urchins. Sea urchin hunting is considered a livelihood for the people here.

At dawn, I was already at the My Quang Nam fishing village (Tuy An Nam commune) to go with Mr. Tran Van Ty, a local fisherman, to Hon Chua, located 800 - 1,000 m from shore, to hunt for sea urchins. Before leaving, Mr. Ty and the fishermen prepared tools to "hunt" for sea urchins, including: a piece of iron about the size of half a little finger, 0.5 m long, with one end bent like a fishhook and the other end stuck to a wooden handle; a basket tied with foam around it to float on the water surface, diving goggles, and an oxygen tank.

According to Mr. Ty's experience, sea urchins are available all year round, but the main harvesting time is from the 4th to the 8th lunar month. The main season for sea urchin harvesting is in the 6th and 7th lunar months; the remaining months have rough seas, rain, big waves and strong winds, making it very difficult to catch sea urchins. Usually, Mr. Ty's group only goes during the first 4 days of the month and the middle 4 days of the lunar month. On those days, the water will be low, making it easier to catch sea urchins.

Fisherman Nguyen Van Tuy shows off his achievements after 2 hours of diving to catch sea urchins.

Once a location is chosen, fishermen will dive 10-20 meters below the water surface to find sea urchins. Sea urchins usually cling to rocks, eating seaweed suspended in the water. When they find sea urchins, fishermen use iron hooks or gloved hands to grab them and rise to the surface to put them in baskets. Diving to catch sea urchins seems simple compared to other sea jobs, but to get a few kilos of sea urchins is very hard work. To get baskets full of fresh sea urchins, sea urchin hunters must stay underwater all day, surfacing and diving or clinging to rocks to find sea urchins, so by nightfall, their whole bodies are sore and aching. Many people think it's easy, and after diving for a few days, they have to give up.

“People compare sea urchin hunting to “picking up money” under the sea. However, diving for sea urchins is very hard work, the workers almost do not leave the water all morning, eat and rest at sea, only coming ashore for about an hour for lunch. In addition, sea urchins have many sharp spines, if fishermen are not careful, they will be stung in the hand, on the body, causing swelling and pus that takes many days to heal,” added fisherman Nguyen Van Tuy.

Baby sea urchins are shaped like rambutans, dark black in color, when mature they are flat and round, about 8-10 cm in diameter, 3-4 cm thick, with a body full of sharp spines 3-4 cm long, and can shoot out spines when moving. According to the experience of many fishermen, beaches with lots of moss, clear water and few waves will usually have many sea urchins.

Sea urchins are considered the ginseng of the sea. Not only are they used as ingredients to make many delicious dishes, sea urchins are also considered a health-enhancing medicine. Therefore, for many years now, in the sea areas of Hon Chua, Hon Lao, Hon Dua..., during the main sea urchin season, hundreds of fishermen will go fishing for sea urchins. Every day, from around 8am to 5pm, the rocky beaches along the coast are always crowded with people diving to hunt for sea urchins. If they are lucky, they can catch 70-100 small sea urchins each day to sell to cage owners after 2-3 months of harvesting or 10-30 large sea urchins to sell to restaurants and seafood shops. With the current selling price of 2,000 VND/small sea urchin and 250,000-300,000 VND/kg of large sea urchins, fishermen earn a few hundred thousand VND each day diving to catch sea urchins, enough to support their families.

According to fisherman Nguyen Van Bi, coastal waters in the East of Dak Lak usually have 4 types of sea urchins: black sea urchin, river sea urchin, silver sea urchin and sea urchin. The outside is a bit thorny, but the inside of the sea urchin meat is firm and has a very eye-catching golden color. Currently, there are many delicious dishes made from sea urchins such as: grilled sea urchin with scallion oil, sea urchin stewed with banana stem or green banana, sea urchin porridge...

“The sun was shining brightly, but to hunt for sea urchins, we had to dive deep. The water was so cold that our skin turned purple. When we reached the shore, our teeth were still chattering. We dived all day and when we returned home at night, our bodies were exhausted, but we still woke up early the next day to continue,” said fisherman Bi.

Tourists grill sea urchins at Hon Chua.

After a day of hunting sea urchins with the fishermen, I left the boat and went ashore. In the distance, at the seafood restaurants in Hon Chua, while diners were praising the dishes made from sea urchins, the sea urchin catchers were turning purple from being soaked in cold water for so long…

Sea urchins are mollusks, also known as sea urchins or sea urchins, often living in groups in rock crevices and moss along the eastern coast of Dak Lak. Sea urchins are a delicious seafood with high nutritional value, often processed into dishes mainly in 3 ways: eaten raw, grilled and cooked into porridge.

Source: https://baodaklak.vn/du-lich/202508/sannhum-bien-1b41d85/