The endless ocean and its treasures have always attracted mankind. Yet, to uncover and bring home these treasures - fish from dozens of meters under the sea and hundreds of miles off the coast, it takes the most dedicated fishermen tremendous efforts and sometimes, even their own lives. Over 20 days living at sea, we were given a chance to truly comprehend the hardship of the fishing profession as well as the profound love for their beloved country that burns within the heart of each and every seaman.          

After 4 days of wandering and fishing around the Spratly Islands, we haul in merely a few hundreds kilograms of fish. Storm Kai-Tak is approaching the Pacific Ocean and the captain makes his decision to head southwest, attempting to avoid strong winds and heavy seas.

After traveling more than 50 nautical miles, the vessel now approaches Phuc Tan area near the offshore platform DK1. The location is where several bluefin tuna fishing vessels gather. Captain Vuong decides to slog the ship through the dark of night, hunting for schools of fish near those tuna fishing boats.

Amidst the black of night, high voltage lamps from fishing vessels flash their glaring light at the sea to attract tunas as divers, despite the piercing cold, do their usual job of diving into the water to find fish.

Minute after minute without any feedback from the divers, Captain Vuong impatiently drives his vessel closer to the spot. He is then informed that there are not that many fish and it is not worth making sets.

Another vain effort! Our crew continues their mission through the night until morning. Patience is wearing thin and each of the crew members soon becomes restless. Each of them finds their place on top of the vessel to better observe the sea and to spot fish more easily. In the middle of his despair, Captain Vuong is informed by another squid fishing vessel through his radio device that a school of fish is aggregating in the area. The hopeful captain immediately takes the ship's wheel and leads it towards the coordinates from which the signal is sent. Yet, the poor captain finds nothing there but his hopes destroyed.

Through days and nights, though exhausted, each and every crew member are to take shift and expected to keep a sharp lookout for other boats moving in the way which might crash our vessel anytime. Each person is to stay awake for three hours. As new members, we are assigned to stay up with some of the older fishermen during the first shift, from 19:00 to 21:00. To kill time, we take out our fishing rods and started fishing for squids. For fishermen, this is a kind of job that earns them some extra income for groccery shopping before heading back to the sea.

We meet To Van Dat, a.k.a. 'the Otter' and his fellow Nguyen Van Hai. After putting their goggles on, they dive into the water to find fish. Fishermen started to cheer as more and more fish took the baits. Immediately upon confirmation of roughly a tonne of fish, Captain Nguyen Minh Vuong slows down the vessel as his crewmen take out a Vietnamese flag with its symbolic yellow star marking the red background and start tying it up to a bamboo pole with a blinking beacon (EPIRB) attached right underneath. The pole is firmly stabilized by a concrete block and is held above the water by a float.

Dat and other fishermen take out not just one but two flags and fastened them to the floating poles. This must be a big catch.

Though I am now no stranger to the image of our flag, this is the first time I have ever seen such flag waving high and large in the middle of the ocean. The moment is indescribably special. A sense of nationalism rises in the air in its most sacred and yet most familiar way.

Happiness glows in the faces of Captain Vuong and his fellows as they spot a large school of fish. Looking at the way they cherish the flag as they plant it to the float, we couldn't help but envision the sight of sailors marking our sacred sea borders. We are deeply touched. According to the Captain, the act of flagging the fish school is to claim ownership over the fish. The flags will also inform foreign fishing vessels of the presence of Vietnamese fishermen in the water and confirm Vietnamese sovereignty over it.

We sail further offshore and finally anchor down to impatiently wait until 4:00 am the next day before casting nets and surrounding the fish. On the following day, we wake up just to find our high hearts sunken, hauling in merely a tonne of fish. Another joke of the sea. After almost a week hauling in only 2 tonnes of fish, Captain Vuong and Dat can't help become becoming anxious, and this starts to show on their unsettling faces. With his radio device, the Captain restlessly communicates with other fishing vessels in the same ground inquiring about the movement of the fish.

After days waiting endlessly without a spark of hope, in the morning of the tenth day, we are informed of a "floating object" which could potentially a big aggregation of fish. As usual, the nets are set, closed and pulled in. The long wait had finally paid off somehow with the biggest haul of the trip, over 3 tonnes.

In the glowing dawn, fishermen carefully put the fish into trays and quickly stow them in the refrigerated hold to keep them as fresh as possible until landing. Once getting the opportunity to experience working with the these men, we gradually understand how hard their job is and learn not to take any single fish they bring back to land for granted. It is true that gifts from the ocean cannot be taken so easily. In fact, you have to earn it with your sweat, your tears and even your life.