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The fishing families of Sha village in Yunnan

By Li Yingqing and Guo Anfei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-01-06 11:32

Sha Village, seated by the Erhai Lake in Xizhou Town, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, has been a fishing village for centuries.

In 1960s, 72 families fed more than 1,500 fish hawks. Today that number has dwindled to just 12 families with around 150.

56-year-old fisherman Yang Yuangang, who has trained fish hawks for 36 years, could even command his fish hawks in Bai language. Different season, climate, wind direction and fish group may influence the hawks. "They may catch 20-25 kilos at most but 1-1.5 kilos at least."

100 days after a fish hawk born, it can catch fish. A grown-up fish hawk could catch a big fish of 10-kilo. "They may live for 25-28 years," said Yang, "we feed fish hawks small fish and shrimps or cut big fish into small pieces to assure they may swallow. A hawk needs half a kilo fish per day."

The fish in Erhai Lake sell better than most. Yang has 15 fish hawks and may have income of 30-100 yuan a day. However, Yang prefers to send his kids to school rather than learning the ancient means of fishing.

Yang's day involves fishing in the morning and then back home in the afternoon with fish and shrimps filled in his boat. Some would be the family's dinner while the rest be sold in the market for some commodities of daily use.

The government has prescribed the banning season (from January to June) and the fishing season (from July to December), to offer a profound protection for Erhai Lake and the fish resource. During the banning season, any means of fishing are banned in Erhai Lake, only some shows of fish hawks exist.