At around 7am, fishermen near Tho Quang fishing port (Da Nang) began bringing their tools and homemade "boats" to the large sluice of the fishing port to dive and pick up tiny mantis shrimp to sell for money.
The homemade "boat" with all the equipment for diving to catch manta rays of fishermen in Tho Quang ward, Da Nang (Photo: Hoai Son).
Bom bop is the name given by Da Nang people to a mollusk with two black shells, about the size of a finger, living mainly on cliffs and bamboo poles in fresh and brackish water.
To catch them, the workers have to wrap themselves in chains weighing nearly 10kg to dive quickly and deeply to the bottom of the river to avoid being pushed up by the water.
Each worker is equipped with a long plastic tube connected to an oxygen machine placed on a foam box to maintain breathing.
The mane bop catcher is equipped with goggles, diving suits and a long plastic tube connected to an oxygen machine placed on a styrofoam box (Photo: Hoai Son).
At the bottom of the river, more than 4m deep, the worker has to try to "sniff" where the mantis shrimp are clinging. When they find the "goods", they have to use specialized tools to chisel out large pieces and put them in a basket. A dive takes about 10 minutes, when the basket is full of mantis shrimp, the worker will come up to the surface.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Tam (residing in Nai Hien Dong ward, Son Tra district) said that during diving, incidents can occur such as the breathing machine breaking while in deep water, the rope breaking... Therefore, if you detect anything unusual, you must immediately surface.
Women who dive to catch octopus have to work in polluted water and floating waste (Photo: Hoai Son).
Besides, having to wrap iron chains makes it difficult for the worker to move. Therefore, this job is only for very strong people who are used to the river.
Mr. Phan Thanh Truc (44 years old, living in Tho Quang ward, Son Tra district) said that because the mantis shrimp has little meat, it is mainly caught to feed lobsters. Previously, no one bought this type of seafood, so no one caught it. In recent years, traders have been looking to buy mantis shrimp a lot, so people have more work.
According to Mr. Truc, diving to catch mantis shrimp also has to face many dangers lurking underwater such as broken glass, bottles, bricks, scrap iron, etc., so experience is needed to handle the situation.
Traders buy Bom Bop for 2,000-3,000 VND/kg (Photo: Hoai Son).
The mantis shrimp is at the bottom of the river so it must be cleaned before being brought to shore and the traders must be called to come and buy it at the price of 2,000-3,000 VND/kg.
"Today the water is a bit sparse, so I had to dive in the river for about 6 hours to get about 1-2 quintals, which I could sell for about 300,000 VND," said Mr. Truc.
For people like Mr. Truc and Ms. Tam, even though they know the job is hard and miserable, they still work hard, endure hardships, and dive to the bottom of the river, challenging the River God every day.
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