{"id":1776,"date":"2015-03-13T10:06:53","date_gmt":"2015-03-13T10:06:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.conservationpulse.com\/?p=1776"},"modified":"2021-03-05T05:01:55","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T05:01:55","slug":"2015-03-dong_mo_boat_race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indomyanmarconservation.org\/my\/2015-03-dong_mo_boat_race\/","title":{"rendered":"Second boat race organized to support the world\u2019s rarest turtle"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Dong Mo Lake is a large expanse of water to the west of Hanoi, Vietnam.\u00a0 Beneath the quiet surface, a secretive but hugely important animal lurks. The lake is the only known wild habitat where the world’s rarest turtle Swinhoe\u2019s Softshell Turtle (Rafetus swinhoei<\/em>) survives. The species is better known in Vietnam as the Hoan Kiem Turtle as a single ancient animal survives in Hanoi\u2019s Hoan Kiem Lake to which a 15th<\/sup> century legend gives it a god-like and magical status.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, these giant turtles, which can attain weights of almost 150kg, have been heavily impacted in recent decades through a combination of hunting and habitat loss throughout their range in northern Vietnam and southern China. Historically many fishermen on Dong Mo Lake believed that they had a competitive relationship with the turtles, blaming the animals for breaking their fishing nets or stealing fish. According to reports from local residents as recently as the 1980\u2019s and 1990\u2019s large turtles, some weighing over 100kg, were still being caught from the lake to be sold and often consumed locally.\u00a0 In these recent decades, the population of these giant turtles dropped from some hundreds of animals to one or two animals now.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_column_text]The Asian Turtle Program (ATP) of Indo-Myanmar Conservation (IMC) has taken the cultural importance of the giant turtle species to promote conservation of the species at the site.\u00a0 Rowing traditional boats on Dong Mo Lake is an almost daily activity for most of the 50 fishermen working the lake, as well as for local residents who are used to live so close to the water.\u00a0 Much of the community depends on the lake for their economic survival.\u00a0 In the past, boat racing was never a consideration within the local community.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″]

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<\/div><\/div><\/div>[\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]But through organising a boat race event which combines a traditional culture festival after the lunar New Year holiday, Tet and the legend of the turtle in Hanoi we have been able to rouse enthusiasm in the community.\u00a0 On the 7th<\/sup> of March 2015 in Nghia Son communes, Son Tay district, Hanoi the ATP, Kim Son People Committee, and Nghia Son village farmers society collaborated to organise the second boat race in Dong Mo lake. \u00a0There were 42 men and 13 women registered to race. Four competitors per heat with racers rowing with their feet to the target bouy which must be circled before returning to the starting line. With a distance of 900 meters for each race, it provided a real challenge to the racers. After more than 10 heats the four fastest men and four women were chosen for the final races.<\/span><\/p>\n

The winner of the men\u2019s final with a time of 6′:54 was Mr. Phan Van Dzung, a fisherman from Dong Mo. \u00a0The women\u2019s final was a tough race with all four finalists showing great skill, Mrs. Nguyen Thi Oanh became the winner with a time of 8′:18 minutes. \u00a0Despite rain during the event over 500 spectators came from local communities to watch and support the racers. \u00a0Presentations and announcements throughout the event reinforced the importance of the turtles in the lake and the need for community support for their protection with the conservation message “Race to save the legendary turtle of Vietnam”.<\/p>\n

One racer, Mr. Nguyen Van Hanh shared his voice: “We are happy to join the boat race this year. it makes the annual festival become more special. So funny. I missed the victory this year but I will try next year<\/em>“.[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]We would like to thank all of the support for our work and the\u00a0Rafetus swinhoei\u00a0<\/em>Project from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), IUCN and Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. Also thank you for the support from Mr. Nguyen Van Mong vice chairman of Kim Son commune, Son Tay district, Hanoi and Mr. Do Van Minh chief of Nghia Son Farmers Society, Kim Son commune, Son Tay district, Hanoi who helped us to organize this successful event.[\/vc_column_text]

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<\/i><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>[vc_column_text]Date: 13th<\/sup>\u00a0March 2015
\nPress release by: Pham Van Thong & Timothy McCormack – ATP[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Photo gallery<\/strong><\/em>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column]
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Dong_Mo_boat_race (3)wtmk<\/h3>Women from the area show their strength and skill while enjoying the boat race. Photo by Nguyen Tai Thang - ATP<\/small><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>
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Dong_Mo_boat_race (4)wtmk<\/h3>The racers rowed hard in this physically challenging competition. Photo by: Nguyen Tai Thang - ATP<\/small><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>
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Dong_Mo_boat_race (7)wtmk<\/h3>The victors receive their prizes. Photo by: Nguyen Thi Anh Ngoc - ATP<\/small><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>
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Dong_Mo_boat_race (1)wtmk<\/h3>Mr Phan Van Dzung, a fisherman from Dong Mo became this year's winner of the men\u2019s final with a time of 6':54. Photo credit: The ATP <\/small><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div>
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Dong_Mo_boat_race (5)wtmk<\/h3>Over 500 spectators come to support for racers. Photo by: Nguyen Tai Thang - ATP<\/small><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Dong Mo Lake is a large expanse of water to the west of Hanoi, Vietnam.\u00a0 Beneath the quiet surface, a … <\/i>Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1780,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,356,353],"tags":[93,208,50],"class_list":["post-1776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atp-news","category-awareness-training","category-imc-news","tag-turtle-conservation","tag-dong-mo-boat-race","tag-rafetus-swinhoei"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.0","language":"my","enabled_languages":["en","vi","my"],"languages":{"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"vi":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"my":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indomyanmarconservation.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indomyanmarconservation.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indomyanmarconservation.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indomyanmarconservation.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indomyanmarconservation.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1776"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/indomyanmarconservation.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1786,"href":"https:\/\/indomyanmarconservation.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1776\/revisions\/1786"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indomyanmarconservation.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1780"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indomyanmarconservation.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indomyanmarconservation.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indomyanmarconservation.org\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}