Early spring on Bach Long Vi
(Baonghean) -On the days leading up to the Lunar New Year, we were fortunate to join the working group of the Navy Region A to visit and give gifts to officers, soldiers and people of Bach Long Vi island district (Hai Phong city), an island with many beautiful legends, beautiful right from its name.
Spring has come early to the remote island. One side of the Fatherland has begun to welcome Tet in the warm mist and wind of the East Sea.
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Navy soldiers and people go to the island to celebrate Tet Canh Dan |
After more than 10 hours of cutting waves through the night, the ship HQ 635 of the Navy Region A took us to Bach Long Vi Island. In the misty sky, Bach Long Vi port looked like two giant black crab claws spreading out to welcome us amidst the sleepy, flickering lights of fishermen.
On the wharf, the dark blue uniforms of the navy soldiers and youth volunteers were visible... I suddenly recalled a time when Bach Long Vi was an island of fire, an island of steel, an unsinkable warship. The steadfast army and people of Bach Long Vi shot down 25 American planes, were a heroic unit of the People's Armed Forces, worthy of being the outpost island of the Fatherland in the Gulf of Tonkin, and suddenly the melody of the song "Bach Long Vi, homeland island" filled my heart, evoking so many memories of a tragic time...
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-Colonel Pham Van Dien - Commander of Naval Region A visited, |
Bach Long Vy is the farthest island of Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin. The island has geographical coordinates (20o07'35'' and 20o08'36'' North latitude; 107o42'20'' - 107o44'15'' East longitude.. Due to its location in the middle of the Gulf (110 km from Hon Dau - Hai Phong, 70 km from Ha Mai Island, 130 km from Ta Chiao Cape - Hai Nam), the island has an important position in expanding the sea areas and delimiting the Gulf of Tonkin. In addition, the island is also located on one of the 8 major fishing grounds of the Gulf, having an important position in the economic development strategy, security - maritime defense of our country in the Gulf of Tonkin.
Bach Long Vi, in addition to the name White Dragon's Tail, was formerly known as Vo Thuy Island (meaning no water). Later, there was a period when it was called Phu Thuy Chau (meaning a pearl floating on the water), and to this day there are still relics of Thuy Chau village on the island.
Currently, the island has about 80 households with 350 people and 170 workers. The island's population is quite diverse: fishermen; youth volunteers; district civil servants; fishery logistics service center; hydrometeorological station; maritime security unit, post office and some businesses. In addition, there is a large number of transient people from fishing boats anchored around the island (sometimes up to 800 boats) and many seafood purchasing and service boats come here to do business, sometimes up to 120 boats.
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On the island, there are 4 residential clusters concentrated in the southwest and southeast. The islanders are mostly adults of working age and male. Women and children account for a small proportion. The labor force consists of 3 main occupational groups. The traditional fishing group has about 25 households. The group exploiting aquatic products as a part-time job, with limited experience and means of exploiting aquatic products, has about 12 households. The rest are households specializing in services, animal husbandry, cultivation and households of youth volunteers who do not work in the fishing industry.
Fishing on the island is mainly abalone diving and coastal fishing, in addition to catching sea cucumbers. Before 1988, grouper and grouper could be caught by hook and line, netting about 40 - 50 tons, abalone exploited about 30 - 40 tons fresh each year. Abalone diving is in season from January to August.
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This Tet, Bach Long Vi is gradually recovering from the fierce sweep of storm No. 10 (late 2009). Around the island, there are still many traces of the days of fighting the storm. The broken television tower is being reinstalled. The wind power pole - the symbol of Bach Long Vi - has also been knocked down, the roof of the district court is still littered with corrugated iron sheets due to the storm, and the roots of fallen casuarina trees are scattered all over the island.
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But no matter, the sound of children studying has resounded in the spacious 2-storey primary school-kindergarten, the cactus - a traditional plant - has bloomed yellow all over the sandbanks. On the train that took us to Bach Long Vi, peaches, kumquats, pigs, chickens, dong leaves, and sticky rice were bustling ashore.
Remote island is reviving to welcome Tet in the middle of the blue sea.
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Article and photos: Tran Hai