Head of Co To District Department of Culture and Information, Nguyen Hai Linh, told local media on Wednesday that pods of up to five whales have been seen around Co To Island over the past two months.
"The whales often appear for some 20-30 minutes in the morning," Linh said. "They swim very close to local boats and images of them have been recorded by many fishermen and tourists."
According to the official, this is the fish breeding season so whales are returning to seek food.
"We're seeing more whales this year," he said. "This shows that the marine environment in Co To is improving."
A local fisherman, Vuong Ngoc Thuy, also said that he saw a pod of four whales while fishing on the island at 3 pm on September 22.
"The whales swam some 200 metres close to my boat so I could see them very clearly," Thuy said. "They stayed for about an hour. I was very excited to see them play and seek food here."
Earlier dolphins and some rare species of turtles have also been seen on the island, which is good news to local people as they've tried various measures to protect the environment.
Co To Island recently banned visitors from bringing plastic bags and single-use plastic items as local authorities are trying to build a sustainable, green tourism environment.
Statistics showed that more than 2,000 tourists visit Co To a day. The island received over 298,000 visitors in the first nine months of this year, up 152 percent on-year.
