(VOVworld) Dat Mui or Ca Mau Cape, about 100 km from Ca Mau city, is the southernmost commune of Vietnam. Coming to Dat Mui today, visitors are warmly welcomed by friendly and hospitable local people who are sparing no effort for their local development.

Ca Mau Cape

The first things one sees upon arrival in Dat Mui are immense protective submerged forests surrounding the Ca Mau Cape. The local people earn their living from fishing and aquaculture. Chairman of the Dat Mui communal People’s Committee Ly Hoang Tien says: "Due to local geographical conditions, we have advantages in fishing and aquaculture. Therefore, we mainly focus on breeding shrimps and developing our processing techniques. That’s the only way we can increase our revenues."
In contrast to neighboring areas, people in Dat Mui commune live scattered in Ca Mau Cape National Park. They voluntarily grow trees and protect the forests there while earning their living from aquaculture. Mr. Tien said: "Balancing protection of the forests in the national park and helping local people improve their economies remains a big challenge for us. As this is a national park, the local people are not allowed to harvest anything from these forests, and are required to plant more trees."
The local authorities are gradually moving people out of the National Park and offering financial assistance to them in exchange for taking care of the forests. Pham Van Ngoan and his family have been living for 14 years in the buffer zone of the Park. They live off their 2 hectares dedicated to shrimp and crab breeding. Ngoan told us: "This is how we make ends meet. However, there are too many trees here and the falling leaves sometimes make it very difficult for us to breed shrimps and crabs." Ngoan says that every person in Ca Mau can earn a good living by their hard work: "Every year we have just one shrimp harvest, the rest are crab harvests. After expenses of 500 USD annually, we make a good profit and lead a decent life." Many people have migrated and settled down in Dat Mui. Since moving from neighboring Cai Duoc district, Bao Thi Hien and her family have been living here for 14 years. They are quite happy and satisfied with their stable life in Dat Mui. Mrs. Hien: "We no longer suffer from hunger. Our living conditions have constantly improved. Our 4-member family are all engaged in shrimp breeding."
Ly Hoang Tien says the local authorities and people are doing their best to further develop their local economy: "Dat Mui is the former revolutionary base. The commune is still poor but people’s livelihood is improving. So far, we have ensured access to education for all children of school age and have upgraded our local healthcare center." 

Lan Anh