Jellyfish season

(Baonghean) - Currently, in the coastal communes of Dien Chau district such as Dien Kim, Dien Hai, Dien Hung, fishermen are starting to enter the jellyfish exploitation season. Every day, there are nearly 200 rafts with hundreds of fishermen sticking to the sea to catch this type of seafood. Currently in Dien Chau, the stages of catching, purchasing, and processing jellyfish are gradually becoming a "money-making" profession for many people in coastal areas.

Arriving at Dien Kim beach, we witnessed the bustling atmosphere of the jellyfish fishing season of the local people here. Nearly 100 rafts continuously went out to sea and then docked, each raft was full of jellyfish. After only about 4 hours at sea, fishing about 3 - 4 nautical miles from shore, fisherman Dinh Luu, Tien Tien hamlet, Dien Kim commune, landed with 1.5 tons of jellyfish. His family and workers of the processing facility quickly loaded the jellyfish onto a truck to be imported to the processing factory right on the beach. Last year, within only 3 months of jellyfish fishing, Mr. Luu earned more than 100 million VND, and this year, although the season has just begun, the jellyfish are thicker, so he hopes for a higher income. Mr. Luu said: Every day, fishermen here catch more than 100 tons, with an average price of 1 million VND/ton. Fisherman Vu Van Thong, Yen Thinh hamlet (Dien Kim) shared: “Jellyfish fishing is quite effective this year. Due to health conditions, I go less than everyone else, but since the beginning of the season, I have earned several tens of millions…”.

Dien Kim fishermen use modified vehicles to transport jellyfish.

Jellyfish season in Dien Chau sea area starts from January to April every year. The output is large and easy to consume, so people actively catch them. About 5 years ago, jellyfish were exploited in large quantities by local fishermen and sold cheaply to foreign traders, while if processed, jellyfish sold on the market would be dozens of times higher than the "raw" price. After researching the market and learning processing techniques, some coastal people have opened facilities to purchase and process jellyfish. Currently, Dien Chau district has 3 jellyfish processing workshops on the shore, purchasing directly from people at a price of 1,000 VND/kg.

With a daily operating capacity of 300 tons, all the jellyfish that people catch are purchased by these facilities. In addition, the owners of the processing facilities also invest capital to support people in building rafts, catching and purchasing jellyfish. These days, jellyfish processing facilities are operating at full capacity. At Khanh Vinh clean jellyfish processing facility in Dien Kim commune, 100 workers are divided into 2 shifts, working day and night. Each day, the factory purchases up to 200 tons of jellyfish for processing. Ms. Bui Thi Vinh, the owner of the processing facility, said: "In the past 20 days, we have purchased 2,000 tons, equal to several months of last year. When there are goods, the facility creates all conditions to purchase everything for fishermen."

Jellyfish is a nutritious dish, very cool in the summer, reasonable price so the market demand is very high. In recent years, Dien Chau jellyfish products have been present in the domestic market and some countries such as Korea, China... Currently, along with encouraging fishermen to take advantage of the weather to exploit jellyfish, the authorities of coastal localities also recommend fishermen and processing facilities to maintain environmental hygiene when harvesting and processing jellyfish. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thuy, Chairman of Dien Kim Commune People's Committee said: In Dien Kim, the jellyfish exploitation and processing industry has developed strongly in recent years, contributing to creating jobs, increasing income for people as well as the local economy. We thoroughly instruct processing facilities to ensure environmental hygiene, comply with food safety, meet the needs of domestic consumers and exports.

Mai Giang(Dien Chau Radio)