'Seaside Dance' at Swan Isle during the hunt for shrimp crabs

The life of fishermen setting out to sea to catch shrimp crabs during the shrimp crab season in Swan Isle, Phu Yen province, is vividly depicted through the photo series 'Seaside Dance' by the 8X photographer Tran Bao Hoa.

'Seaside Dance' at Swan Isle during the hunt for shrimp crabs

Swan Isle belongs to Nhon Hoi hamlet, An Hoa commune, Tuy An district, about 20km northeast of Tuy Hoa city, Phu Yen province. Local people call it Swan Isle because in the past, this small island was home to many swallows nesting.

Apart from delicious seafood like squid, crab, snails, mullet, shrimp crab is considered the specialty of Swan Isle and is the main target of fishermen in the fishing village of Nhon Hoi. This shrimp crab species is as small as a matchstick and has a translucent white body.

The 8X photographer Tran Bao Hoa (originally from Dak Lak) stated that through the guidance of a local indigenous friend in Phu Yen, he captured the photo series 'Seaside Dance' documenting the livelihoods of coastal fishermen during the shrimp crab catching season in the area around Swan Isle.

Bao Hoa completed this photo series over a month and a half starting from June 2018, as it's the time for the shrimp crab harvesting season.

During the day, fishermen use nets to encircle and catch the crabs when they spot the shrimp crab stream at a depth of 30-40m. At night, they use bright lights to attract the crabs into the nets and use poles to scoop them up. Around 8 in the morning the next day, the boats return with baskets full of fresh shrimp crabs.

“Each catch yields about 10-20 baskets of crabs, each basket weighing around 20kg and sold for approximately 1 million dong per basket (equivalent to 50,000 dong/kg)” – Hoa quoted a fisherman as saying.

To capture this series, at noon, Tran Bao Hoa carried his backpack and camera on a 70km journey from his home in Quy Nhon City (Binh Dinh) to reach Swan Isle by the afternoon, as around 2 PM they begin to cast their nets. He photographs until 9 PM when they stop pulling in, then returns home by midnight.

During his trips, he checks the weather forecast daily and learns about the fishing habits of the fishermen there. But even with forecasts, there were days when he arrived at Swan Isle to heavy rain, and the fishermen couldn't cast their nets, so he had to return.

“The fruit of these journeys is timeless photos, capturing moments like the green 'net flowers' surrounding the fish seen from above, seabirds diving down to eat shrimp crabs while fishermen are pulling in their catch, or the joyful smiles of the season after hauling in baskets full of shrimp crabs. It's even more fulfilling when I return home to proudly show my wife the bags of fresh shrimp crabs gifted by the fishermen after the tireless photography journey” – Bao Hoa said.

He mentioned that behind these 'Seaside Dance' photos, he received a lot of support from fellow fishermen and colleagues. He printed and gifted these precious photos to the fishermen.

The 'Seaside Dance' brought much joy to Hoa when he won second prize in the Photo Series category of the Vietnam Heritage Photo Contest 2018 organized by Vietnam Heritage Magazine under the Vietnam Cultural Heritage Association.

According to HUYNH PHUONG/ Youth

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Reference: Travel guide Mytour