Black Carbon (BC) is an aerosol emitted as soot during biomass burning or fossil fuels combustion. In Halong bay that is on the UNESCO World Heritage list, the background concentration of BC is high and the sources are diffuse (e.g. domestic use, industries, commercial shipping and coal production). The deposition of BC in Halong bay results in the formation of large blackish slicks at the air-sea interface (i.e. the surface microlayer) in some areas of the bay. To date, attempts to specifically isolate BC utilizing strains from BC-contaminated sites are scarce. In order to isolate BCutilizing microbial strains, the surface microlayer was sampled from 7 different sites on Halong bay for determination of the composition of the microbial community as well as testing the ability of microorganisms to grow on Be. The number of bacteria and mold strains that were able to grow on BC was higher when originating from samples collected at BC contaminated sites than at non-contaminated sites. All isolated strains of bacteria and mold can grow in medium supplemented with BC 0.001 percent. Four mold strains and seven bacteria strains can grow in medium containing BC 0.1 percent as sale carbon source. One bacterial strain is Gram negative and the others are Gram positive. the results are the first show1ng the ability of specific microorganisms to grow on BC, thus contributing to develop the strategy for BC contaminated treatment.