Colored sea snail farming: Collecting "gold" from the sea

According to the experienced fishermen living on Ngoc Vung Island, Van Don District, pearl farming has been no longer existed. Instead, local islanders have been focusing on raising colored sea snails - another aquatic product of which values are comparable to pearls.

Tu La Mountain, in the west of Ngoc Vung Island, is the basket of sea snails.

Tu La Mountain, in the west of Ngoc Vung Island, is the basket of colored sea snails. Mr. Le Van Khanh, living in Hai Binh Commune, like other local cultivators, raises sea sails around this area. His farming area stretches 200-300m along the foot of the mountain.

Mr. Khanh said “Though sea snails can move, they just live around the foot of the mountain and eat moss and phytoplankton. Therefore, it is no need to be worried about losing them. This area has the most favorable natural condition. Sea water around Ngoc Vung Island has a good natural salinity which does not often change. Moss and phytoplankton are abundant. So, sea snails here grow well”. 

In just dozens of minutes, Mr. Khanh collected almost a kg of colored sea snails

Walking around other farming areas near Tu La Mountain on a nice day, you will see a lot of people collecting sea snails. In just dozens of minutes, Mr. Khanh collected almost a kg of colored sea snails which area as big as his thumbs. While instructing on how to collect the sea creature, he talked about the high economic yield specialty which can bring in 200,000-220,000 VND/kg and even more.

“Understanding the sea snails’ living habit, in 2016-2017, I decided to expand farming area. We released 7,000-8,000 breeds with moderate density. We harvested the aquatic products after 6 months to one year, depending on the size of the breeds. Sea snails can be continuously harvested thanks to its fast reproduction. My family’s income often reached 70 million VND a year’, said Mr. Khanh.  

Sea snails can bring in 200,000-220,000 VND/kg and even more

Thanks to sea snail cultivation, Ngoc Vung islanders have another source of income. The number of households involved in aquaculture has significantly increased. Farming area has been expanded over the island commune, including Phao Dai, Dat Nut, Phuong Hoang… There are now 143 households on Ngoc Vung Island developing aquaculture, including colored sea snails with breed release of 134 tons a year. Commercial sea snail productivity reaches hundreds of tons a year. 

As reported, Ngoc Vung Commune plans to develop sea snails to be its typical aquatic product. Therefore, the commune wished to introduce experience tours of catching fish, claims, or sea snails, which is considered a good way to turn aquatic farming into a local strength and create stable source of income for locals.

Translated by Quynh Trang