{"id":17319,"date":"2020-11-10T21:49:22","date_gmt":"2020-11-10T13:49:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/?p=17319"},"modified":"2021-06-23T15:26:24","modified_gmt":"2021-06-23T07:26:24","slug":"life-afloat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/2020\/11\/life-afloat\/","title":{"rendered":"Life Afloat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Fishermen in Bohai Bay are struggling with sharp decline in harvests and impact of COVID-19. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Laurissa Liu in Tianjin<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fishermen hope a four-month moratorium from May to September can help Bohai Bay revitalize its vitality and bring them rich fish harvests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But desertification of ocean floor and the impact from COVID-19 shows no mercy to the fishermen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liu Dongxiang, a fisherman with over 30 years of experience in fishing in Beitang is one of them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liu and his family keep casting and collecting fishing nets overnight every day, starting from September. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe hunting usually starts from mid-night or after dinner,\u201d Liu says. \u201cWe then have to sell our harvest during day time. Our work never stops,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\n
\n
    \n
  • \"\"
    Fishermen in Beitang sell their daily catch at a dock.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Seafood lovers buy fresh harvests from fishermen at a dock.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Beitang seafood market was shut down in late January and reopened recently on September 1.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Fishing boats return to the dock at around 10:30 am every day.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Buyers waiting for fresh catch of the best quality from the ocean.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Fishermen help out each other to unload boxes of harvests. <\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    A fisherman is getting ready to sell his daily harvests.\r\n<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Liu Dongxiang parks his vessel at a dock after a fishing trip. <\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    A customer is buying swimming crabs from Liu Dongxiang\u2019s boat.\r\n<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Razor clam and catfish are commonly seen species in the seafood market at a dock.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Yang Shuwei a stall owner in a seafood market, is looking after her business.\r\n<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    The seafood prices have jumped due to sharp decline in harvest.\r\n<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Han Gui takes rest after selling all his harvest. <\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Fishermen keep up with the trend of electronic payment.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Fishermen mingle with each other when taking rests. <\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Fishermen on a dock are having chats when selling their harvests.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n
  • \"\"
    Seafood lovers have finished shopping and an old fisherman starts to tidy up his stall.<\/div><\/div><\/li>\n <\/ul>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Throwing\nout fishing nets and waiting under starlit night is a fisherman\u2019s usual\nroutine. By the time they get back, diners flock to the dock to buy lively\nseafood lifted from the ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    River\ncrab, swimming crab, mantis shrimp and various shellfish are the most commonly\nseen and popular seafood among customers in Bohai Bay market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Liu\u2019s\nfamily relies on fishing to make a living. Yet in recent years, harvests have dropped\ndrastically, because of the serious ocean pollution and overfishing. Sharp\ndecline in fish harvest affects all fishermen in Bohai Bay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThe\ncatch has declined rapidly from 200-300 catties (100-150 kg) a day to only 20\nto 30 catties (10-15 kg) in the past two years,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The current number of fish eggs is only half of\nbefore, compared to the data from 1982 to 1983, according to a research\nreleased by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in 2018. The seafood\nresources are less than one tenth of the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    A fisherman is setting up his stall after a fishing trip. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    The Bohai Bay is one of the four traditional fisheries\nin China. Tens of thousands of fishermen in Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, and\nLiaoning make their living at the bay. But the shallow bay is overwhelmed by\nlarge-scale commercial fishing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The government introduced the four-month fishing moratorium in 1995 to protect the marine ecology, considering the situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cNo matter how fast fish and shrimp grow, boats are always faster. No matter how many fish are released, there are always fishermen in boats waiting to capture them,\u201d Liu says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    September\nis the best season for harvesting mantis shrimp. Abundant yield of mantis\nshrimp used to be a major source of fishermen\u2019s income. But harvest has dropped\nsignificantly this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cThe harvest weights 2,000 catties (1000 kg) for a single boat trip in 2000. Yet, the harvest drops to around 500 catties (250 kg) this year,\u201d says fishermen Han Gui, who is also based in Beitang. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cMantis shrimp is the most popular seafood here, and the growth can never match the demand,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Apart\nfrom sharp decline in harvest, the pandemic also makes it more difficult for\nfishermen to make a living. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The\nfishermen can only rely on government subsidy during the summer moratorium.\nSome young fishermen used to look for part-time jobs in service and construction\nindustry. But it was not easy to find work during the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Seafood lovers scramble to buy fish and shrimps as the harvest is not enough for their demand.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Liu\u2019s son, 24, used to work full-time in a restaurant, lost his job in March and rejoined his family to do fishing. \u201cFishing doesn’t make as much money as working in a restaurant,\u201d he says. Fishing trips for tourists are also cancelled due to the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cWe only have local buyers. Tourists from other parts of the country have stopped visiting, especially those from Beijing,\u201d Han says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It takes only two hours to travel from Beijing to Bohai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"
    Tourists take selfie at a dock as all boat trips have been cancelled due to the pandemic.\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    The pandemic has also affected the seafood market business. \u201cThe wholesale price of crabs has doubled. The price is RMB \u00a560 (US $9) to RMB \u00a570 (US $10) per catty (0.5 kg),\u201d says Han Yongqing, a seafood vendor market and a former fisherman. \u201cDemand for seasonal seafood after the pandemic jumps, but the supply can never catch up with it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cCatching octopus used to mean bad luck. But now fishermen want anything that can be sold for money,\u201d Han adds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Edited by Lasley Lui, Regina Chen
    <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Fishermen in Bohai Bay are struggling with sharp decline in harvests and impact of COVID-19. By Laurissa Liu in Tianjin Fishermen hope a four-month moratorium from May to September can help Bohai Bay revitalize its vitality and bring them rich fish harvests. But desertification of ocean floor and the impact from COVID-19 shows no mercy to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1800,72,11],"tags":[245,1418,1506,1507,1505,1508],"class_list":["post-17319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-special-edition","category-photo-feature","category-photo-story","tag-china","tag-covid-19","tag-fisherman","tag-fishindustry","tag-fishing","tag-tianjin"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17319"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17319\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19643,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17319\/revisions\/19643"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}