(Quang Ngai Newspaper)- Clawing clams, catching snails, oysters… have become a livelihood that brings a significant source of income to thousands of fishermen in coastal communes and Ly Son island.
Struggling to follow the water
At noon, the sun was shining, but along An Sen beach, Binh Tan Phu commune (Binh Son), there were glimpses of people raking clams. They dragged the rake back and forth on the beach, eyes staring at the sand, occasionally bending down to pick up clams and putting them in mesh bags. Their livelihood is linked to the tides every day.
| The clam raking profession of people at An Sen beach, Binh Tan Phu commune (Binh Son) depends on the tides. |
Seeing us coming to talk, Ms. Nguyen Thi Dieu (65 years old), from An Sen village, happily chatted. Ms. Dieu said that I have been involved in the clam raking profession many years ago. Every day, after finishing the housework, around 9 am, I bring my “tools” to An Sen beach to scrape clams. It says it’s a tool, but in reality it’s just a homemade bamboo rake about 2m long, the bottom of the rake spreads out to both sides to fix an iron ring about 30 – 40cm long called the rake blade and a mesh bag to hold clams. .
“Every day I collect a few, small clams, I bring them home to cook soup, and on the day I get a lot, I sell them to shops and traders. Having this job is also helpful, you don’t have to worry about capital, just carry a rake to the sea and you will have money. Those who are diligent will catch many. A few tens of thousands a day, or even a few hundred thousand when winning, is enough to spend on food for the family,” Ms. Dieu confided.
After chatting with us for a while, Mrs. Dieu hurried to the edge of the sea to continue her livelihood. Looking at Mrs. Dieu’s hands and feet, pale from being soaked in water for too long, and her face darkened by the sun, I felt that the job of raking clams here is very difficult.
In addition to clam raking, many people living near An Sen beach also do clam diving. To catch large, quality clams that can sell for a higher price, healthy people (mainly young men) will swim about 25m away from shore and then dive to catch clams.
Met Mr. Pham Van Tung, in An Thanh village, Binh Tan Phu commune, when he had just dived ashore. With the result of diving 6.5 kg of clams, Mr. Tung “broke his pocket” with nearly 500,000 VND. For Mr. Tung, today’s income is not half as much as the previous days, but it is enough for him to spend the day on living expenses for his family.
According to Mr. Tung, the selling price of clams depends on how big or small the clams are. Usually, large clams cost 100 thousand VND/kg, medium clams cost about 70 thousand VND/kg, and small clams cost less than 35 – 55 thousand VND/kg. However, if the scale covers all consumption, the price is over 80 thousand VND/kg.
Diving to catch snails on the island
In the morning, when the sun just rose, dozens of households in Ly Son started a day of conch diving around the island. The means of practice is only a canoe or small-capacity motorboat, equipped with an air compression system and a few dozen meters of steam hose.
| Clams are purchased by traders right at the sea. |
With his luggage including drinking water, lunch, and scuba diving equipment, Mr. Nguyen Khuong (37 years old), from Dong An Vinh village, along with other conch divers on Ly Son island, started a canoe and ran. Go a few hundred meters from shore to practice. Mr. Khuong has more than a decade of experience in offshore fishing, but in the past 7 years he has switched to diving to catch conch around the island. Mr. Khuong shared that this profession operates all year round, has little investment capital but gives high income, not inferior to offshore fishing. Furthermore, divers face fewer risks compared to sea cucumber diving, because this profession only dives at a water depth of around 10m.
According to conch divers, in the past there were so many conchs that they went all the way to the rocks close to the shore, just wading into the water to catch the snails. However, in recent years, due to heavy exploitation, the snails are almost gone. This season is not the main season for conch, so each day of diving, on average each person harvests 25 – 30kg. Going in the morning, spending the rest of the afternoon endlessly, after deducting expenses, on average each snail diver earns 500 – 700 thousand VND.
Conch is considered a specialty dish of Ly Son, so after the snails are brought ashore, there will be traders waiting to buy them. Currently, conch sold at the beach costs 25 thousand VND/kg, but if sold at the market it will cost 30 – 35 thousand VND/kg.
In addition to raking clams and catching snails, many people living along the coast and Ly Son island also rely on the advantage to exploit spinach and seaweed. These “sea fortunes” are often seasonal, but thanks to them, many poor people have an additional source of income.
Articles and photos: ROSE FLOWERS
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