One of the most fascinating sights I’ve seen in China is Cormorant fishing. It’s is a traditional method of fishing where huge Cormorant birds are trained by the fisherman to do the fishing for them! Of course nowadays, there are many more efficient fishing methods so these are used to lure tourists to pay for a show. It was worth every penny I paid just to see these birds and fisherman having such a unique relationship!
The fisherman or rather fisherwoman in my case, rears and trains about 8 to 10 cormorant birds. The idea is simple, a string is used to tie around the base of the bird’s throat and when released they will dive into the water to hunt. Because their throats are tied, they can only swallow the small fishes while the large ones get stuck.
What really impressed me was the speed that these birds take to catch fishes. They dive underwater for no more than a few seconds and they are back on the boat. Even more amazing is when the fisherwoman removed the fishes that were stuck, there was not only one but 2 to 3 medium to large size fishes in the throat with just one quick dive! It was an absolutely brilliant way of fishing! Of course the birds being tamed do seem to enjoy working with the fisherwoman and after a hard’s day of work, would get rewarded as well.
yes, it was really a fascinating sight to watch the birds caught the fish… I saw this while in Japan… very interesting…. 🙂
Katherine,
Where in japan did you chance on the fishing birds?
yes, it was really a fascinating sight to watch the birds caught the fish… I saw this while in Japan… very interesting…. 🙂
Katherine,
Where in japan did you chance on the fishing birds?
It was 2 years back where we joined a tour with CTC to Central Japan w a group of friends and my parents. It’s at GIFU, Nagara River.. the Japanese called it “Ukai” – Cormorant Fishing. It was fun as we all gathered at a small boat to watch that… and we also allowed to buy fireworks and play w fireworks on the boat which we nvr have the chance in Singapore. Till now, I still have good memories of that. 😀
Katherine,
Gosh! That sounds like so much fun!
It was 2 years back where we joined a tour with CTC to Central Japan w a group of friends and my parents. It’s at GIFU, Nagara River.. the Japanese called it “Ukai” – Cormorant Fishing. It was fun as we all gathered at a small boat to watch that… and we also allowed to buy fireworks and play w fireworks on the boat which we nvr have the chance in Singapore. Till now, I still have good memories of that. 😀
Katherine,
Gosh! That sounds like so much fun!