Protecting a river and clear water, the fishermen have a wider way to go ashore
Introduction
"Holding the distant mountains, swallowing the Yangtze River, the vast soup and soup, the boundless horizon; the morning sun and the sunset, the weather is endless."
The vast and vast Dongting Lake has been beautiful for thousands of years because of the description of Fan Zhongyan's famous poem "Yueyang Tower".
Looking out the window and looking at the lake, Liu Jing used her mobile phone to photograph an ordinary morning by Dongting Lake: the splendid morning glow on the horizon, meeting the clear water of a lake, was like a fairyland.
As soon as this short video of more than 10 seconds was released, it attracted the attention of many netizens.
"Compared with previous years, today's Dongting Lake is getting more and more beautiful." Liu Jing said, it is not only Dongting Lake that has become more beautiful, but also the new life of fishermen who have returned from fishing. Fish, and then live online to bring the goods. Last year, my sales on the short video platform were more than 300,000 yuan.”
Liu Jing's home is in the ecological fishing village of Liumenzha Community, Qianlianghu Town, Junshan District, Yueyang City, Hunan Province, and is located in the experimental area of the East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve in Hunan Province.
The long water of the Yangtze River is connected to Dongting Lake in the south.
Dongting Lake, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, is known as the "Kidney of the Yangtze River".
In April 2018, General Secretary Xi Jinping walked into the patrol monitoring station of East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve to check the real-time monitoring system.
The general secretary emphasized: "Restoring the ecological environment of the Yangtze River is an arduous task entrusted to us by the new era, and it is also the earnest expectation of the people." "We must not allow the ecological environment of the Yangtze River to continue to deteriorate in the hands of our generation. Leave behind a clean and beautiful Yangtze River!"
"Together to focus on large-scale protection, not to engage in large-scale development."
In order to restore the ecology of the Mother River, from January 1, 2020, 332 nature reserves and aquatic germplasm resource reserves in the Yangtze River Basin will completely prohibit productive fishing; Annual fishing ban" fully launched...
Liu Jing's parents, aunt and uncle, and cousins were once fishermen.
With the implementation of the no-fishing compensation system in key waters of the Yangtze River Basin, 152 fishermen from 76 households in Liumenzha Community all returned to shore at the end of 2019.
Improve supporting policies, carry out skills training, and develop the dried fish industry... With the introduction of a series of local measures, the per capita income of fishermen ashore in Liumenzha community will increase from 25,000 yuan in 2019 to 60,000 yuan in 2021.
A few days ago, the reporter walked into Dongting Lake to visit the new life of the fishermen who returned from fishing in Liumenzha community after they came ashore.
"Dongting Lake is where we live and where we make a living. In the past few years, the fish in the lake have become less and smaller. Everyone knows that the ban on fishing in the Yangtze River is right."
Set up a tripod, turn on the camera, and adjust the fill light... Liu Jing held a bamboo dustpan covered with dried fish, appeared on the scene with her father Liu Ping, and started live streaming on the short video platform.
The father-daughter duo had a great relationship, which attracted hundreds of netizens to watch within a few minutes.
"I spent most of my life punting and swaying on Dongting Lake. How could I have imagined that one day I would become an anchor and an e-commerce business." Liu Ping laughed.
Tidy up the fishing net inch by inch, hold it in the crook of the left arm, twist the lower end of the fishing net with the right hand, and then forcefully cast it in a clockwise direction. The scene, occasionally appeared in Liu Ping's dream.
Liu Ping's parents gave birth to 4 children, and Liu Ping's generation gave birth to 6 more.
Among the three generations of the family, 6 people are fishermen who have established a file and established a card.
Liu Ping's younger sister, Liu Shuzhen, was the earliest fisherman.
In 1990, when she was in her early 20s, she married fisherman Wang Wujun and began to weave a family's fishing life with fishing nets.
Liu Ping did not want to live the fishermen's life of his parents' generation, and wanted to take advantage of his youth to become one of the first people to raise tadpoles and bullfrogs in Liumenzha.
He also built a mud-tiled house on a depression by the Dongting Lake, where he wanted to settle down.
However, a heavy rain in the summer of 1996 shattered his dream. "The house collapsed, and none of the family's belongings were taken away. The tadpoles and bullfrogs were all dead." Liu Ping said, there is no way, Gotta get on a boat as a fisherman.
The younger brother Liu Qing has successfully transformed.
Liu Qing, who was born in 1966, transferred land to grow fields, and later started trading in fertilizers and pesticides.
However, his son Liu Wei is still a fisherman.
Before the implementation of the "ten-year fishing ban" in the Yangtze River, fishermen in Liumenzha community washed their feet and went ashore every year to find their own way.
The reason that prompted the fishermen to change careers is that the microclimate on Dongting Lake is complex and changeable, making the fishing days full of danger and hardship, and they often face the dilemma of not being able to catch fish and earn money.
"Since 2002, Dongting Lake has implemented a 3-month spring fishing ban (extended to 4 months in 2016). Whenever the fishing ban ends on June 30, everyone is eager to catch them, all wanting to take advantage of the At this time, I can make a lot of money." Liu Ping said that because of overfishing, the harvest is not as good as a year. "In 2018, excluding expenses, my family's fishing income is only 10,000 or 20,000 yuan."
Overfishing and other activities have brought serious damage to the ecology of the Yangtze River.
For a period of time, rare and endemic species in the waters of the Yangtze River continued to decline, and economic fish resources were close to depletion.
The ban on fishing in the Yangtze River is related to the aquatic biodiversity of the Yangtze River, and "is an important decision for the overall planning and for the sake of future generations."
Settling down before rebirth.
In June 2013, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and other four departments issued the "Guiding Opinions on Implementing the Project for Fishermen's Landing and Living with Boats as Home", which stated that "strive to use boats as home for fishermen to live ashore in three years".
Yueyang City has co-ordinated funds of 48 million yuan to build an ecological fishing village covering an area of 120 acres for fishermen who use boats as their homes in Liumenzha Community. The project was completed in April 2015. Liu Ping's family moved into a three-story building with bright windows and clean windows. .
In 2017, the No. 1 Central Document proposed to "take the lead in realizing a comprehensive ban on fishing in the aquatic biological reserves in the Yangtze River Basin." The Ministry of Rural Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for Banning Fishing and Establishing a Compensation System in Key Waters of the Yangtze River Basin", which requires that "by the end of 2019, the fishermen in the aquatic life reserve will be withdrawn from fishing and take the lead in implementing a comprehensive ban on fishing. In the future, the aquatic life reserve will completely prohibit productive fishing.”
This piece of Dongting Lake waters next to Liumenzha Community is located in the experimental area of the East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve in Hunan Province. Fishermen must withdraw before the end of 2019.
When the leaflet was handed out to Liu Ping, he was silent.
Liu Jing, who lived with her parents, read out the old fisherman's reluctance.
She explained her father: "You also thought about washing your feet and going ashore before, but now the state is helping you find a way, why don't you go ashore?"
"In order to ensure that fishermen 'return out', we have made every effort to protect their vital interests and actual needs according to the assistance plan formulated by the superior's policy to help fishermen who have returned from fishing and changed their jobs." Said Dai Sixin, head of the Junshan District Fishery Administration Station, for example. , when assessing the depreciation of recovered fishing boat nets, fully consider their value in the year of purchase; and include the family members of the returning fishermen into the assistance objects.
"Dongting Lake is where we live and where we make a living. In the past few years, the fish in the lake have become smaller and smaller. Everyone knows that it is right to ban fishing in the Yangtze River." Liu Ping thought about it for two days, and finally thought pass.
In December 2019, Liumenzha Community approved 76 households with 152 fishermen to withdraw from fishing, and registered 254 family members of fishermen, realizing the establishment of files and cards.
At the same time, files were established for 542 fishing boats returning from fishing, to accurately record the number of the vessel's certificate, the type of fishing boat, the fishing area and the conditions of the nets.
Before the end of the month, all the arrests in the Liumenzha community had been completed, and no one household, one person and one boat was missed.
As of the end of 2020, a total of 111,000 fishing boats and 231,000 fishermen have returned to shore in the Yangtze River basin.
Even though the fishing has been withdrawn, many fishermen are still worried, and the biggest pressure comes from their livelihood.
Liu Shuzhen, who has been fishing for more than 30 years, often thinks, "I know nothing but fishing. What will I do after I land?"
"Having a new job at the door of the house is a handy job again, and there is no longer the confusion and anxiety of 'what to do after landing'"
One day in early 2020, Liu Shuzhen was sitting at home when the SMS ring of her mobile phone suddenly rang.
When I saw it, it turned out that the first 45,000 yuan of compensation for the recovery of fishing boat nets had arrived, and I was overjoyed, "I didn't expect it to be so fast!"
According to the policy of withdrawal from arrest, next, she will receive 40,000 to 50,000 yuan in compensation in her bank account.
In addition, she and her husband Wang Wujun will each receive a transitional living allowance of 2,400 yuan per year from that month.
Although there are a lot of compensation and subsidies, it cannot be ignored.
After a short period of excitement, when Liu Shuzhen was once again confused and anxious about "what to do after going ashore", she brought a registration form to find out her employment intention to withdraw from arrest, and community cadres led Tang Zehua, a cadre who provided employment assistance in Qianlianghu Town, to the door.
"Want to be your own boss?"
"I suffered the loss of being a boss when I was young. Now even if you lend me a bit of courage, I would not dare." Liu Shuzhen said.
It turned out that more than 10 years ago, Liu Shuzhen and his wife took the 200,000 yuan they had saved so hard to contract a fish pond of more than 200 acres to raise fish. Because the farming technology was not good enough, they lost the cost.
"Then go to the city to work. You don't need to invest any money, you just need to contribute."
"But, I'm in my 50s, how can I find a suitable job?" Liu Shuzhen hesitated.
"I'll help you get in touch, go take a look first."
Not long after, Tang Zehua drove Liu Shuzhen to visit the industrial park 40 kilometers away from the community.
There are many companies recruiting workers here, some of them are doing cooked food processing, some are doing handicrafts, and they can get started with simple training. The monthly salary ranges from 3,000 yuan to 4,000 yuan.
"Although it is easy to learn and has a good income, it is difficult to adapt to being restricted, uncomfortable, and far from home." The more Liu Shuzhen understands about the assembly line position, the more she feels that she cannot do it, and she is depressed.
"It's okay, eldest sister, I have mastered your basic demands. Let's find a way!" Tang Zehua said.
This is the end of Liu Shuzhen's first job search.
Like her, many returning fishermen are accustomed to relatively free work methods, and it is difficult for them to transform into factory employees with strong organizational discipline in a short period of time.
"The problem of changing jobs and employment may seem simple, but in fact it is about methods, and policies must be implemented according to the individual." Yang Guanggui, a cadre of the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau of Junshan District who was in charge of this work at the time said, "The jobs we connected in the early stage were mainly to ensure the landing of fishermen. In the long run, only by basing itself on the local natural endowments and advantageous industries, respecting the past working methods and living habits of the returning fishermen, and strengthening skills training, can we ensure the 'stable' transition to production."
After further sorting out the appeals of the fishermen in Liumenzha community, the local area has more targeted guidance for their conversion.
"Qianlianghu Town is rich in water resources and has free irrigation and drainage. Aquaculture is a local traditional advantageous industry, especially rice and shrimp farming. In recent years, it has gradually developed into a local agricultural pillar industry, and the demand for labor has increased year by year. Fishermen are accompanied by water all their lives. Aquatic products such as fish and shrimp have a love that cannot be given up, and they have the technical advantage of understanding fish and shrimp." Yang Guanggui said that Junshan District decided to increase the training of aquaculture skills and organize intentional return fishermen to participate in the training.
Knowing the training news from Tang Zehua, Liu Shuzhen and his wife immediately signed up.
In August 2020, the training class was held in Liumenzha Community.
The meeting room on the third floor of the community neighborhood committee was full of 60 people, and Liu Shuzhen saw her nephew Liu Wei at a glance.
Unlike his aunt who went to work for training, Liu Wei, who was born in 1990, is aggressive and has strong learning ability.
During the training class, aquaculture experts from neighboring Huarong County and Qianjiang City, Hubei Province gave systematic lectures to everyone. The teaching content included key aspects such as fish and shrimp density, water quality, oxygen content, and epidemic prevention and control.
Liu Shuzhen heard these terms for the first time, and finally figured out the reason why she failed to raise fish more than 10 years ago: the stocking density was too high, and the oxygen in the water was not enough, so that a large number of fish died of hypoxia.
The freshwater aquaculture prospects described by the experts also gave Liu Wei confidence: "Our Qianlianghu Town is a characteristic lobster town. Every year, a lobster food festival is held in the Liumenzha community. The development of rice and shrimp is at the right time and place. make money."
During the 7-day training, both aunts and nephews gained a lot.
Not long after the training, Liu Shuzhen received a call from Liu Wei: "Aunt, I have transferred more than 100 acres of paddy fields. You and my uncle can help me."
Digging trenches, installing nets, and managing water... In October of that year, Liu Shuzhen and his wife were invited to apply the farming techniques they had learned.
"From April to August every year, the two of us work in the rice and shrimp fields, and each of us earns 5,000 yuan per month." Liu Shuzhen said, "Having a new rice bowl at the door of the house is a handy job, and we will never do it again. The confusion and anxiety of 'what to do after landing'."
Aquaculture technical training is carried out every year, and 15 fishermen from Liumenzha Community take this opportunity to join the crayfish industry.
At present, the community has a total of more than 2,600 mu of rice fields. Except for nearly 700 mu of double-cropping rice, the remaining 1,920 mu are all rice and shrimp fields.
In 2021, the sales of crayfish in Liumenzha Community will reach 6 million yuan, and Liu Wei will earn more than 200,000 yuan.
"Eat the lake by the lake, and now it's a different way of eating. The days are getting better and better, and let the villagers realize that the ecology itself is the economy. Protect the ecology, and the ecology will give back to you."
Among the fishermen who landed in the Liu family, Liu Ping can make dried fish. As early as 2013, he and his wife Xiong Yulan purchased a shop in the food street of the ecological fishing village and opened a small workshop for making dried fish.
Scrape off the fish scales, cut along the back, remove the gills and belly, spread out the salt, stain the water, wash and soak, and air dry naturally... The air-dried fish made by some fishermen in Liumenzha only needs to be fried in rapeseed oil. Supplemented with a few simple seasonings, it becomes a delicious dish that attracts many foreigners.
"The original intention of the fishermen to make air-dried fish is to better store the fresh fish that are prone to spoilage. I did not expect it to become a delicacy that everyone likes." Liu Ping said that before the ban on fishing, they sold the fresh fish they caught, while the future Fresh fish that can be sold in time are sold as dried fish.
Now that fishing is banned, where did Liu Ping make the dried fish from?
Walking with Liu Ping into the Gongdefa Green Circulation Breeding Base, which is 11 kilometers south of the Liumenzha Community Ecological Fishing Village, I saw the water flow in the dissolved oxygen tank was turbulent and the fish were jumping around.
Gong Defa, Liu Ping's nephew and son-in-law, used to put cages in Dongting Lake for culture.
With the launch of the special campaign for the improvement of the breeding environment in the Dongting Lake area and the removal of the breeding cages, he participated in the technical training of circulating water aquaculture in the pond organized by the community. Now he operates a fish pond with a water area of 30 mu, and produces an annual output of ecological aquaculture. The fish is about 60,000 catties, of which 10,000 catties are used for Liu Ping's production and processing of air-dried fish.
The Liumenzha Air-dried Fish Association in Junshan District is also helping the processors to find a way.
"The processing of dried fish by fishermen as a sideline is listed as a key rural industry supported by Junshan District." Yang Jian, Secretary of the Party Branch of Liumenzha Community and Director of the Neighborhood Committee, introduced that in 2018, under the leadership and guidance of the Junshan District Market Supervision Administration , 40 processing households including Liu Ping jointly established the Junshan District Liumenzha Air-dried Fish Association, and Yang Jian was elected as the secretary-general.
"The daily work of the association is to guide members to operate in an orderly manner, develop in a group, and solve their problems."
In April 2020, Yang Jian called Liu Ping's processing households to come to the largest agricultural product trading market in Yueyang City.
They repeatedly inquired about prices and shopped around, and finally settled on a supplier that adopts ecological farming and has complete inspection reports.
Bumpy-billed fish, mandarin fish, Diaozi fish, crucian carp... These common fish in Dongting Lake can be bought here as "farmed".
"The fish is very fresh and looks good." Liu Ping has been dealing with fish for many years, and he knows the quality at a glance.
What impresses him is also the price. "We negotiate alone, and the price will definitely not come down. Only through communication with the association can suppliers be willing to make small profits but quick turnover, and give us a 20% profit."
However, without the signboard of "Dongting Lake Wild Fish", can the dried fish made from farmed fish still polish the brand?
Good news came again.
In October 2020, "Qianliang Lake Liumenzha Air-dried Fish (Dried Fish with Bumpy Mouth)" obtained the geographical indication certification mark.
Faced with this beautiful business card, Liu Ping's confidence increased, and a series of ideas turned into reality from his mind: add two freezers, one large and one small, to display products in the front hall; build a 100-square-meter cold storage in the back room, use To preserve fresh fish and air-dried fish; invite four or five experts to work as helpers to expand the scale of production...
Hearing that his brother-in-law wanted to recruit workers, Liu Ping's brother-in-law, Xiong Shuwen, a retired fisherman, immediately came to the door.
He is well versed in the production process of air-dried fish, and now he controls the quality of air-dried fish production in the store.
At present, there are 8 returned fishermen operating dried fish processing in Liumenzha Community, and at the same time, more than 50 local returned fishermen have been employed.
According to statistics from Liumenzha Air-dried Fish Association, the sales of air-dried fish in 2021 will be 180 million yuan, an increase of 40% over 2019.
"To strengthen the dried fish processing industry, the premise is to give priority to ecological protection." Yang Jian said that the rapid development of dried fish processing is accompanied by a substantial increase in the discharge of kitchen waste and production sewage such as fish offal, and it is urgent to solve the problem of sewage discharge.
Since 2018, the Liumenzha community has raised funds and arranged for 4 cleaners to go door-to-door to collect discarded fish offal and transport them to the town's garbage transfer station in time.
In 2020, Junshan District raised more than 4 million yuan to build sewage treatment equipment with a daily treatment capacity of 160 cubic meters in Liumenzha Community.
At the same time, a series of environmental remediation inside and outside Dongting Lake is also continuing: the breeding cages in the lake have been cleaned up, the large-scale breeding of livestock and poultry is no longer allowed within 1,000 meters along the shoreline of the lake, and all gravel piers and storage yards have been removed... …
The environment becomes beautiful and tourists come.
Junshan District takes advantage of the opportunity to launch a global all-season characteristic tourism brand of "outing in spring, watching lakes in summer, watching reeds in autumn, and watching birds in winter".
Taking this as an opportunity, Liumenzha Community built a 1.6-kilometer long fish drying corridor: hundreds of bamboo dustpans are neatly arranged, and the fish in each bamboo dustpan are arranged in an orderly manner in the shape of petals.
Under the sun, the fish drying corridor is like a silver ribbon lingering on the shore of Dongting Lake, attracting tourists to stop and take pictures.
In 2021, Liumenzha Community will receive 58,000 tourists.
"Eat the lake by the lake. Now it's a different way of eating. The days are getting better and better. Let the villagers realize that the ecology itself is the economy. Protect the ecology, and the ecology will give back to you." Liu Jing said that people came here mainly in the past. It is for the sake of eating fresh lake food. Now many people come for the scenery, and the family's business is better than before.
My father no longer worried about his livelihood, and he also took the initiative to join the fish patrol.
Data from the Administration of East Dongting Lake National Nature Reserve in Hunan shows that in 2021, the number of aquatic life species monitored in the waters of Dongting Lake has increased by nearly 30 compared with 2018, reaching more than 60 species.
In the past 30 years, no traces of mullet and eel, which have been hard to find in Dongting Lake, have reappeared in people's field of vision.
Our reporter Wang Yunna