One who has ever gone past Tan Thanh waters (Ham Thuan Nam district) will certainly never forget the image of a fishing village - Ke Ga. From this location, visitors can contemplate an immeasurably high lighthouse with over a century year old in the distance. The rhythm of lives in Ke Ga fishing village leaves an exciting experience and unforgettable impression on every outsider.
Apparently, Ke Ga is a fishing village belonging to Tan Thanh commune, Ham Thuan Nam district. People gave it name of "Ke Ga fishing village" because it is located by a small famous island named Ke Ga with a lighthouse built from The French Colonial period. This small island is separated from the village by a runnel.
The fishing village appeared from long time ago without any proof of its historical formation. In the senior citizens' testimonies, Ke Ga fishing village became a densely populated area after 1975. During the resistance war, this place is regarded as an insecurity area. The old government forced most of the residents here to move to Ham Tan district, Binh Tuy province (i.e, today is Tan Hai commune, La Gi town) for ease of management. After the country's reunification, many households from Tan Hai commune moved to this village under the direction of the revolutionary government. Since then, the agricultural cooperatives have been set up. Among these above households, the family of Mr. Ho Van Phu is one of those. He said that: "We came here in 1976. At first, people lived by farming in accordance with the model of agricultural cooperative. Later, the villagers changed their occupations from farming to fishing due to the barren soil and low yield that resulted in constantly starvation.
Besides the newcomers from Tan Hai, the village also welcomed a number of free emigrants from the central provinces or Phan Thiet city. The local fishermen have stable jobs and income all year round thanks to the abundance of seafood in Ke Ga sea, especially around the lighthouse and the protection of Ke Ga island from the north-easterly wind. Therefore, villagers can exploit more seafood around Dien cape to get little haul of fish in the season of northeasterly wind.
As usual, fishers often have bumper harvests in the North-wind season, but it is contrary in the north-easterly wind season.
Nowadays, the fishing at Ke Ga sea has some changes from inshore fishing with rustic fishing nets to offshore fishing with big boats. The fishermen here used to build ship with high capacity to go offshore fishing. In the north-easterly wind season, it is easy to catch the image of the local people fishing along the coastal island. These fishermen whose natural characters are diligent do not hesitate to work in the unpleasant sun.
Coming to today's Ke Ga fishing village, we can open our hearts to the immense sea and perceive better the simple living of the villagers.