Fascinating Cu Lao Cham

Impression of the green islands

Although situated less than 20 miles from Hoi An Ancient Town, a world heritage site, in the past Cu Lao Cham was fairly wild. In 2009, it was recognized as a world biosphere reserve by UNESCO and soon became a famous tourism destination in central Viet Nam and attracted the scientists’ interest.

In the summer of 2010, as we followed a group of Japanese tourists who participated in a competition to swim across the sea from Cu Lao Cham to Cua Dai, we had an opportunity to learn about the impressive beauty of these pristine islands. At that time, Le Vinh Thuan, Head of the Communications Department of Cu Lao Cham Marine Protected Area (MPA) said the city of Hoi An and MPA had devised a plan to build Cu Lao Cham into an ideal marine tourism destination in the renowned tourist triangle of Quang area, My Son Sanctuary and Hoi An Ancient Town. Therefore, the local authorities opened training courses on tourist professional skills, such as cooking, accommodation services, transporting tourists by boat and guiding tourists for snorkeling for nearly 3,000 people living on the islands to earn their living instead of doing the work of marine resource exploitation.

In early 2014, we returned to Cu Lao Cham and met Thuan again. He cheerfully said that Cu Lao Cham had successfully built the green island into a fascinating tourism destination with various forms, such as snorkeling to contemplate the coral, swimming, enjoying the local food and discovering the wild beauty of the natural beaches.

Huynh Duc, an MPA cadre, led us to visit the island. Duc was once a fisherman specializing in diving to catch lobster and abalone and collecting coral to make lime for construction. He said: “On the initial days of the establishment of the marine protected area the islanders were very anxious because the management board zoned a protected area and prohibited fishing in the coral reefs. For years, we were only accustomed to using small boats to catch sea creatures in the coral reefs along the island, could we survive by working in tourist services instead of fishing?

Now, there is an answer for Duc’s anxiety because Cu Lao Cham is famous for visitors far and near and has become a well-known marine tourism destination in Central Viet Nam. All members of Duc’s family are working in tourist services. His wife left her job of catching fish and shifted to cooking for visitors. His son is transporting tourists to visit the island by boat and guiding tourists for snorkeling in the coral area.

In summer, there are days that over 3,500 foreign tourists go to Cu Lao Cham a day to swim and snorkel. According to Duc’s simple calculation, each islander serves more than one tourist, which brings him/her a much higher income compared with fishing.

We followed a group of French tourists to Huong Beach to swim. There, we met Nguyen Quang, Nguyen Tung, Tran Cuc and some islanders who were guiding the tourists to cast a net like the fishermen. Many foreign tourists were very excited because it was the first time they tried fishing like the fishermen on the island. Quang said: “Formerly these nets were tools for fishing offshore. Now they are used for tourist purposes. Foreign visitors are very interested in rowing the basket boats, angling and catching fish with us.”

Huynh Duc took us on a boat equipped with professional diving devices to Mui Da Trang, which is dubbed the “undersea paradise” on Cu Lao Cham, to see the magnificent beauty of the coral reefs. The coral reefs here over about 30ha and are the most ideal attraction for snorkeling in Cu Lao Cham. At the depth of about five meters, through their diving masks tourists can see a colorful world of marine plants and animals in the clear, blue water, which looks like a mysterious aquarium.

After the snorkeling tour, Huynh Duc took us to see the beaches with pristine beauty, such as Bai Lang, Bai Chong and Bai Huong. These beaches are always crowded with boats transporting the visitors to see the coral.

While sitting on the boat and looking at the coral in the clear blue sea water, Huynh Duc said: “Leaving the job of exploiting coral to make lime and shifting to marine conservation I seem to have paid the debt to the sea of my homeland. In the marine protected area we have revived the beautiful coral reefs and helped to make Cu Lao Cham become the most attractive place for snorkeling in Viet Nam.”

Tran Thi Hong Thuy, Director of Cu Lao Cham Marine Protected Area said that in 1996 scientists conducted a survey in this area and found 135 species of coral with 35 varieties, including six new species first found in the waters of Viet Nam. Results of the survey also showed that there were also 202 species of aquatic creatures and four species of lobster. The coral reefs in Cu Lao Cham were concentrated mainly in the west and southwest of Hon Lao Island and around small islands, with a total area of about 165ha of water surface, but they were damaged because they were exploited to make lime. In this situation the MPA collaborated with the experts of Nha Trang Institute of Oceanography to implement the project on cultivation and restoration of coral reefs to serve tourist activities and preserve the rare and precious genetic resources in the water areas.

However, the cultivation of the coral in the sea bed in Cu Lao Cham had untold difficulties. In 2006, when starting the project on planting the coral, the cadres of Cu Lao Cham Marine Protected Are suffered many failures. At that time, Huynh Duc, Tran Gion and Vo Huu Sinh were diving into the sea to take the coral samples and replanted them in the areas where the coral had been exploited, but after a period of time these species of coral died or were swept away by the sea. Not discouraged, they continued replanting the coral many times, but their efforts were in vain due to big waves. Then Huynh Duc thought that growing the coral in the sea was like growing the trees on the mainland, so healthy seedlings had to be developed before they were cultivated on a large scale.

Huynh Duc pht forward his idea and received the approval of the MPA leaders for an experimental cultivation. Duc and his colleagues chose the water areas in Ran Me, Bai Tra and Bai Man where the sea is calm and is shielded from the wind, which is favorable for making a nursery. With the support of the experts from Nha Trang Institute of Oceanography, they designed the coral cultivation farms to grow more coral. The result was surprising. The seedlings grew very well.

By the end of 2013, the MPA developed 30 coral cultivation farms and successfully restored 165ha of damaged coral reefs. From the successful restoration of the coral reefs, the cadres and scientists of the MPA successfully planted 146 hectares of coral in Cu Lao, increasing the total area of coral reefs here to 311ha of water surface.

Tran Thi Hong Thuy said that the restoration and development of the coral reefs, created a favorable environment for many aquatic species, including rare and precious species like abalone and green lobster to grow and develop.

This is a great success for Viet Nam in marine conservation. From these results the scientists will apply the model in other marine protected areas in Viet Nam such as Nha Trang, Kien Giang, Bai Tu Long National Park (in Quang Ninh Province) and Nui Chua National Park (in Ninh Thuan Province).