De Gi coastal village changes

Hundred-year-old fish sauce village

Earlier this year, Binh Dinh province put into use a coastal route of more than 100 km connecting Quy Nhon City to Hoai Nhon Town. This road passes through coastal fishing villages and pristine landscapes, beautiful beaches... that many people love. Among them, De Gi coastal village is a stop that makes many tourists "miss" it.

De Gi sea bridge

Many elders in the fishing village of De Gi said that several hundred years ago, a high-ranking mandarin of the Le Dynasty had to flee to the South because he offended Lord Trinh and then founded the fishing village of De Gi. The saltwater lagoon of De Gi, located right next to it, is where villagers have made a living by fishing and aquaculture for several hundred years. The professions of making salt and fish sauce were also formed during the process of establishing the village.

Mr. Do Thanh Truc talks about the craft of making fish sauce in De Gi.

Nowadays, many families living near the shore of De Gi lagoon still maintain the traditional fish sauce making profession, which has been passed down through 3 or 4 generations. Mr. Do Thanh Truc (67 years old, in An Quang Tay village) said that his family has a tradition of making fish sauce for many generations and the secret to keeping customers is that the fish sauce must be clean and of guaranteed quality. The raw fish for making fish sauce must be fresh, washed, and drained. Depending on the size of the anchovies, salt them in a ratio of three fish - one salt, or three and a half fish - one salt. When salting fish sauce, mix the fish and salt well, then put them in jars, then seal them tightly and leave them for 6 months to a year. Each month, Mr. Truc's family sells about 500 - 700 liters of fish sauce.

Aquaculture area under De Gi sea bridge

According to Mr. Nguyen Huu Du, Head of An Quang Tay village, the village has about 650 households, of which more than 200 households make traditional fish sauce, the remaining households mainly work in fishing and aquaculture at sea and in De Gi lagoon. Also anchovy fish sauce, but De Gi fish sauce always has a stronger smell than fish sauce from other villages. It could be because De Gi salt is saltier, anchovies caught in De Gi are fresher and are delivered to fish sauce makers in a very short time.

Mr. Nguyen Trung Hieu, Vice Chairman of Cat Khanh Commune People's Committee, said that the traditional fish sauce craft village of De Gi was recognized by Binh Dinh Provincial People's Committee in 2016. In 2017, the craft village was awarded a certificate of trademark and brand of De Gi fish sauce by the Department of Intellectual Property (Ministry of Science and Technology). Currently, this craft village has about 312 households in 2 villages of An Quang Dong and An Quang Tay making fish sauce by manual methods. On average, each year, De Gi fish sauce craft village sells about 100,000 liters of fish sauce to the market.

Development of urban tourism and marine economic services

According to Mr. Nguyen Trung Hieu, the De Gi lagoon area has a lot of untapped tourism potential. De Gi is famous for its specialties, such as: sour fish, grouper, red snapper, blood cockles, blood mollusks, crabs, etc. In particular, the mai fish salad in De Gi is very delicious. Decades ago, in the book Binh Dinh Water and Mountains , poet Quach Tan commented that De Gi lagoon has a lot of fish, more than other lagoons. The fish are also more delicious than all other lagoons, and the best is the fish used to make salad.

In the middle of De Gi lagoon, there is Vung Boi, which is like a small oasis, where many people come to experience life on a deserted island with activities such as: fishing, swimming, diving, camping and then making campfires all night, SUP rowing... Early in the morning, you can watch the sunrise at Hon Lang located right in the middle of De Gi estuary, visit De Gi fishing port, walk around the fishing village, visit Thanh Hoang ancient temple, Nam Hai mausoleum, visit De Gi fish sauce village...

Since the coastal road and the De Gi sea bridge (connecting the eastern communes of Phu Cat and Phu My districts) were built, many families in De Gi have developed food services to serve tourists. The number of tourists coming to De Gi to visit, swim in the sea, and enjoy seafood has also increased. Some families have organized tours to take tourists to visit, fish, and enjoy seafood on De Gi lagoon. Many investors have come to Cat Khanh commune to explore investment opportunities in the fields of commerce, urban areas, and coastal tourism.

De Gi Beach Village

Cat Khanh Commune People's Committee has planned and called for investment in the fields of trade, services, tourism... Currently, Binh Dinh Provincial People's Committee has approved the planning of An Quang Urban and Tourism Area Project (Cat Khanh Commune) with an area of ​​89.2 hectares, total investment capital of 5,228 billion VND and assigned Phu Cat District People's Committee to coordinate with investors to carry out site clearance.

"The Chairman of Binh Dinh Provincial People's Committee has approved the project to establish Cat Khanh town. In particular, Cat Khanh commune is oriented to develop into an urban center for tourism, marine economic services associated with seafood processing and tourism and service development... Strongly develop all types of services to promote production development in order to shift the economic structure of the town. Encourage people to expand service businesses, especially in densely populated areas such as An Quang Tay, An Quang Dong, Thang Kien, Ngai An; develop Dong Lam market, De Gi market, De Gi fishing port to both supply consumer goods to people and consume agricultural, seafood and products produced by people...", said Mr. Nguyen Trung Hieu.

The saltwater lagoon is called Danshui (freshwater).

De Gi lagoon is over 2,000 hectares wide, surrounded by 5 communes: Cat Khanh, Cat Minh (Phu Cat district) and My Cat, My Chanh, My Thanh (Phu My district, Binh Dinh). To the north of De Gi lagoon is Lac Phung mountain (Phu My), to the south is Ba mountain, to the west is La Tinh river basin with small freshwater rivers, to the east is Bach Sa cave.

De Gi is a saltwater lagoon, but in historical books, including Dai Nam Nhat Thong Chi, it is recorded as Dam Thuy (freshwater) lagoon. According to folk legend recorded in the book Binh Dinh Waterfall by Quach Tan, the name Dam Thuy is related to King Gia Long of the Nguyen Dynasty.

When Lord Nguyen Dinh Vuong was attacked by Lord Trinh in the north and the Tay Son army attacked in the south, he and his grandson Nguyen Anh (who later ascended the throne and took the reign name Gia Long) boarded a boat to Gia Dinh. Due to lack of preparation, halfway there, the whole group was thirsty and had to stop the boat at Bach Sa cave. But all around was salt water, and when they entered the village, they were afraid of meeting Tay Son army, so Nguyen Anh looked up to the sky and prayed: "If the Emperor of Heaven has not yet ended the Nguyen Dynasty, please grant us fresh water". As soon as he finished speaking, Nguyen Anh ordered his troops to dig deep into the sand cave and saw fresh water gushing out. Therefore, the lake was named Dam Thuy (meaning Sweet Water).

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