May 2009 - River Li China
Images like this can be found in Guilin, in the Chinese province of Guangxi. Old men sit patiently on a bamboo raft with their cormorants.
Cormorants are diving aquatic birds that have been used for centuries along the Li River, a shallow river. Cormorants can hold their breath for long periods of time and proudly swim back to the fisherman with their catch and are rewarded with a treat of some small fish. A band is fastened around the bird's slender neck so they can't swallow the larger fish they catch.
Today cormorant fishing is mainly for the tourists who now "catch" photos of these intriguing birds and the gentle old men. The men give daytime and nighttime performances along the river.
Very interesting and I imagine quite fascinating to watch. Does it take a great deal of time to train the birds to return to the fisherman?
ReplyDeleteThey have been fishing like that for a long time - I remember learning about it at school. We have cormorants in our rivers, but they are strictly fishing for themselves :)
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see this in person some day. Who keeps the fish? Does a tourist buy it?
ReplyDeleteI did a morning tour of the Li River, but didn't see the old men or the birds. I guess I'll have to go back :)
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