Song Doc town in Tran Van Thoi district is one of the three major urban areas, including Ca Mau city and Nam Can town, which serve as an impetus for the development of southernmost Ca Mau province.

Having a traditional fishery industry, the town promises to become a dynamic coastal locality in the western region of the south.

Song Doc is located in the west of Ca Mau province, 50km from the centre of the province. The town was established in 1979 with a total natural area of more than 3,349ha, having a special position with one side being the Doc River and the other bordering the Gulf of Thailand or the West Sea where there are a large number of boats and ships of the Cuu Long River Delta.

With the most bustling estuary in the region, the industry of catching and processing aquatic products in Song Doc has strongly developed and is ranked first among the fishing grounds in the West Sea.

Thanks to a fleet of 3,000 ships and more than 20,000 fishermen, the town’s total productivity of aquatic products annually reaches 100,000 tonnes.

Furthermore, Song Doc is a multi-functional centre of the region with many ships going in and out so other industries such as shipbuilding and fishing supporting services have also flourished.

At present, the two sides of the Doc River and the fishing port, over 300m long, in the town are planned and built into a hub for trading and transporting products of enterprises which specialise in processing and exporting aquatic products.

The town has four large hubs for trading seafood so it often becomes animated in the early or middle of each month when offshore fishing boats return from the sea.

To further develop the economy, the town has also invested to develop the trades of processing shrimp, drying fish, repairing boats, making ice and weaving nets. The town has planned to develop the trade villages into cooperatives which can provide stable jobs for 10,000 labourers.

Together with investment in traditional trades, the town has paid much attention to upgrading and building roads and the infrastructure and creating favourable conditions for investors.

Since the route of Ca Mau-Doc River was put into operation, it helps shorten the time of travelling of the locals and facilitates the transport of products from Song Doc town to Ho Chi Minh City and other provinces and vice versa. Apart from its strengths in marine economic development, Song Doc has a great potential for tourism development with a beautiful sea estuary. It is an important premise to promote the multi-facial development of the town in the future.

The town of Song Doc has undergone a great positive change and played a central role in the economic development of Ca Mau province and in the western region of the south.-VNA