CORMORANT FISHING

The Chinese have used tame cormorants to fish for thousands of years.We were extremely fortunate to witness fishermen using this technique in the Li River near the town of Yangshuo. The fishermen sail on bamboo rafts, generally after dark, with their cormorants wearing collars to prevent them swallowing their catches. The birds are attached to the raft by a length of "string". The rafts, these days, are powered be outboard motors. The birds swim below the surface of water beside or in front of the raft towards a light hanging from the bow. These days the light is electrically powered instead of the traditional lantern. When a bird has made a catch, the fisherman may pull it from the water by the "string",  or use a long pole by which he encourages his "pets" to clamber aboard and the be returned to the raft. The fisherman then retreaves the fish from the bird's beak or throat by various means to deposit the catch in the basket.. We were impressed by the number of fish collected and placed in the basket at the front of the raft.