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Diving 7-8 m in Nha Trang beach to pick seaweed

During the blooming season of seaweed on Nha Trang Bay, fishermen swim in baskets to the sea to exploit, earning more than 500,000 VND to about one million VND per day.

Diving 7-8 m deep in Nha Trang Bay to pick seaweed

Mr. Cuong rowed a basket boat to Nha Trang Bay to exploit seaweed. Video: Bui Toan

At 10:00 a.m., it was hot, many fishermen in Nha Trang Bay rowed baskets to bring apricots to the embankment area of ​​Phuoc Dong commune (Nha Trang city) after morning fishing in the sea. Dozens of basket boats loaded with weights of seaweed swayed on the waves, the fishermen wagged their oars strongly, gliding ashore.

Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong, 51 years old, after reaching the shore, used a small basket to pick up each piece of wet seaweed in the compartment and put it on the embankment to dry. Apricot seaweed is brown, grows in large bushes, about two meters long, round body. The seaweed will be dried for about 8 hours, at the end of the day sold to traders for nearly 7,000 VND per kg. On this trip, Mr. Cuong collected about 60 kg of dried seaweed, making a profit of nearly 500,000 VND.

Apricot seaweed (sargassaceae) or apricot vegetable, seaweed is a popular nutritious food of the coastal people, is also a remedy for goiter, edema, has a diuretic effect. Khanh Hoa is one of the localities with a lot of seaweed, concentrated in Van Phong, Nha Trang, Cam Ranh…





Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong brings apricot seaweed ashore after picking.  Photo: Bui Toan

Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong brought apricot seaweed ashore after picking. Image: Bui Toan

The harvesting season is about two months long, from March to May of the lunar calendar. At the beginning of the crop, the apricots are usually short, lying completely under the water, so fishermen have to dive 4 feet deep (a span of about 1.8 m) to get it. When the seaweed is two meters long, floating on the water, fishermen sitting in baskets can also pick it up. Those who know the water and are proficient in diving can exploit more than a ton of seaweed per day.

Every day, fishing fishermen have to get up before 4 a.m., row a basket boat for nearly an hour to a position about a nautical mile from the shore, wait for the low tide to dive and pick apricots. With only diving goggles and wearing a long-sleeved shirt, fishermen can soak in the water for hours to pick seaweed, about 5 hours a day.

More methodical seaweed miners often equip small motorized boats to run to the sea, carry frogmen, hold air lines to breathe, dive into the deep water to pick. When the water is cold, if you stay in the water for a long time, you will easily get cramps, so every hour or so, the fisherman will climb into the basket to warm up for a few minutes and then jump into the sea to continue working.





Apricots are brought to dry before being sold to traders.  Photo: Bui Toan

Apricots are brought to dry before being sold to traders. Image: Bui Toan

With more than 15 seafaring experiences, Mr. Cuong commented that seaweed fishing brings stable income during the season. On this occasion, at the end of the season, the output of seaweed was low, so last week he only picked about 60 kg per day (after drying). Thanks to this profession, he and his wife have enough money to support their two children’s education. At his peak, he earned about a million dong a day.

In the area near the embankment of Phuoc Dong commune, there are more than 10 households doing apricot picking. Most are fishermen making a living at sea. At the end of the seaweed season, they return to their old occupations such as squid trapping, fishing, catching lobsters… Some people choose to go out to sea with large ships to earn extra income.

Ms. Ho Thi Kim Hong (Vinh Truong commune), 5 years of experience in harvesting seaweed, said that this plant source helps households have more income in 2-3 months. Most fishermen are in difficult circumstances, do not have money to buy diving equipment, so it is difficult to exploit seaweed when the water is high. Some fishermen diving in deep water, big waves have had accidents.





Traders check seaweed before bringing it to the processing facility.  Photo: Bui Toan

Traders check seaweed before bringing it to the processing facility. Image: Bui Toan

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Hai, who specializes in buying seaweed in Phuoc Dong commune, said that her group buys about two tons of dried seaweed every day. The price of seaweed fluctuates up and down, depending on the purchasing power of the processing unit. After being collected, seaweed is stuffed into sacks of about 30 kg, then loaded into a truck and transported to the preliminary processing workshop.

Apricot seaweed is used to process hot drinks and teas, has many uses in medicine as well as industry. This material is also purchased by traders for export to China. Over the past time, affected by the epidemic, the market for seaweed consumption has decreased sharply, many people are no longer interested in seaweed picking, some have switched to other occupations to make a living.

Bui Toan

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