HA TINH – People in Ky Phu commune, Ky Anh district, go to the sea to pick up feather shells, apricot shells, and purple clams washed ashore to bring back as food and sell to traders.
From the 8th of the Lunar New Year to the present, along the coast more than one kilometer long, passing through the villages of Phu Hai, Phu Long and Phu Loi, in Ky Phu commune, Ky Anh district, many seafood species have been washed ashore by big waves. whitewash an entire area. Hundreds of people inside and outside the commune carry baskets, rackets, nets, and bags to the sea to pick them up.
Ms. Tran Thi Thanh, 52 years old, residing in Ky Phu commune, walking with a plastic basket to observe, every few tens of seconds, she bends down to pick up feather scallops, apricot shells and purple clams mixed in the sand. After 20 minutes, Ms. Thanh took the seafood basket to a depth of about 20-30 cm to filter sand and garbage away.
“Hairy clams and shellfish live about 6-8 nautical miles from the coast, often appearing in the middle of the year. Maybe these days, the weather is bad, the sea is rough, the tide changes, causing seafood species from offshore. drifted in,” said Ms. Thanh.
Some young men and middle-aged men use a net racket with a handle nearly one meter long to wade down to the edge of the sea, or close to the rocky rapids, where the water level is 30-50 cm deep, swinging the racket between the big waves, after 10 -15 minutes to pull a batch.
Seafood ashore is mainly shellfish, most of which are dead, the intestines are open, the white shells are arranged 2-5 cm thick along the coast. Species such as apricot clams and purple clams are smaller in number, many of them are still alive, said Mr. Nguyen Van Dat, 36 years old, residing in Ky Phu commune.
On average, each day a resident picks up 20-30 kg of seafood of all kinds, and a large family collects a quintal. Each household collects 1-2 million VND. This is considered the “good fortune” at the beginning of the new year. Almost every family mobilizes all members to go to the sea to collect and fish near the shore to earn extra income.
Scallops, purple clams sell for 10,000-30,000 VND per kilogram depending on the type, shellfish is 5,000 VND per one. In addition to selling to traders at the coast, many people take it home to store it as food, or preliminarily process it and bring it to retail markets. These types of seafood can be cooked in many dishes such as steamed, fried with lemongrass, grilled with onion fat…
Mr. Nguyen Kien Quyet, Chairman of Ky Phu commune, said the phenomenon of seafood washing ashore took place 3 days ago, estimated 2-3 tons.
According to the leader of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development of Ky Anh district, in the past, after floods or heavy rains, it was common to record shellfish, apricot shells and some other species washed ashore, but the number was small, only a few kilograms. . “About a week ago in Ky Anh sea, the sea was rough, with heavy rain. Maybe these species migrated to other places to live and were washed ashore by big waves,” he said.