Cormorant fishing is a traditional way of life on the Li river in the past. These days most of the Li river is closed to fishing for environmental reasons and the cormorant fishing is a dying art.
The cormorants are trained to dive into the river among the school of fish that live in the clear water. After catching a fish the birds return to the boat where the fisherman removes the fish from the bird. The bird is prevented form swallowing the fish by a ring that is placed around the neck of the bird. The bird is rewarded for its work by its owner. This method ws first practiced in 960 AD.
In September 2018 I visited the cormorant fishermen. The following serie of images were shot by myself.
The last en youngest of the fisherman in XingPing is mister Huang Neng Di (62) locals call him Blackbeard. The other fishermen are mr. Huang Yue Ming (85) and his brother mr. Huang Yue Chuang (78). Both retired.
