A fishing boat dumping site "ashore" in Baishuigang Village, Zhicheng Town, Yidu City, Hubei Province, taken on January 2, 2020 (drone photo). Xinhua News Agency profile photo
On December 31, 2020, at the site of the comprehensive launching ceremony of the "Ten Years Ban on Fishing" in the key waters of the Yangtze River Basin, the fishery administration law enforcement fleet sailed through the Wuhan section of the Yangtze River. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Cheng Min
A fisherman watches the dismantling of fishing boats at the site of the dismantling of fishing vessels in the Xinluo Section of the Yangtze River (photo taken on December 25, 2019). Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Xiao Yijiu
After "disembarking", Xu Baoan (center) works in the production workshop of a shoe company.
Beijing, 5 Jan (Xinhua) -- On 5 January, the Xinhua Daily Telegraph published a report entitled "After the Ban on Fishing in a Fishing Village for a Hundred Years: After the Ban is Good, the Policy of No Longer Floating on Water is Good, and the Livelihood of the Elderly is Guaranteed."
The Jiudao River, a first-class tributary of the Yangtze River, meanders into the Yangtze River in YiduZhi town, Hubei Province, forming a natural ferry at the entrance, called Baishuidu. Historically, Baishui Ferry port once gathered merchants and merchants, and was an important node from western Hubei to Hunan.
"Thousand pounds of wax (Chinese sturgeon) ten thousand pounds of elephants (white sturgeon), yellow row (rouge) is not very big", the Yangtze River is famous for its fish fat and water beauty. Relying on water to draft water, for more than 240 years, the village of Baishuigang, where the ferry port is located, lives on fish, takes boats as its home, and ploughs the waves.
Since January 1 this year, more than 200,000 fishermen, including the people of Whitewater Harbor, have officially bid farewell to the "floating on the water" life they have long been accustomed to and retreated to the shore to start again, which is a huge change in lifestyle and production methods.
Ten years of fishing ban, the key lies in fishermen, the difficulty is also in fishermen.
In March 2015 and November 2019, the reporter came to this fishing village twice to interview, understand the living conditions of fishermen, and listen to their voices;
On December 30, 2020, only about 30 hours after the implementation of the historic ten-year fishing ban in the key waters of the Yangtze River Basin, the reporter came here again to talk with fishermen and grass-roots cadres to talk about fishing, feel the great changes in the century-old fishing village in the past 5 years, and look for the realistic logic behind the smooth landing of fishermen.
(Subtitle) In the past, "there is no money to fish, no land to go ashore"
Liu Xian, an 88-year-old fisherman, took crutches to the village's Whitewater Fishing Village Showroom and stayed quietly for a while.
The newly completed showroom is spacious and bright, and the fishing gear and fishing tools donated by the villagers look dappled and vicissitudes.
The old man was full of ravines and was in shape, but when he talked about the past, his spirit was full.
At the age of 12, Liu Xianxiang began to fish with his family. When his father cast a net, he rowed a boat, and at the age of 18, the father and son divided their labors and exchanged, and at the age of 65, Liu Xianxiang could no longer "move".
In August last year, all the fishing boats in The Whitewater Harbor Village came ashore, ending more than 240 years of fishing history.
The showroom has an old yellowed photograph: a small boat carrying a family of six. Liu Xianxiang recalled, "In the early years, the fishermen were all on the top of the tiles and under the coneless place, 'a wooden boat has a home, the bow of the boat quarrels and the stern pulls' and 'plants a shelf house to kidnap the sub-bed, and as soon as the water comes, they will flee the wilderness'. Until the founding of New China, the lives of fishermen were fundamentally changed, and some people built homes on the shore. ”
Rolling hooks, row brushes, big shots... Standing in the display area of large fish catching tools, Liu Xianxiang said: "In the early years, there were often big fish in the net. Once, someone caught a sturgeon of more than 800 kilograms, and several strong laborers took half a day to carry it ashore. ”
At that time, after handing over the state's quota tasks, the fishermen had relatively spare money, their lives were still relatively enjoyable, and it was easier to marry their daughters-in-law.
After the land co-production contract, although fishing boats evolved from flat boats to wooden boats and iron boats, the sound of pulling fiber oars was replaced by the roar of the engine, and the fishing net woven with twine lines became a three-layer gillnet, the speed of fishery development was no faster than that of agriculture.
Liu Zekui, former secretary of the party branch of Baishuigang Village, said that after 2000, due to overfishing and environmental pollution, the Yangtze River fishery gradually dried up. "I remember that since 2003, fishing has been banned every spring, but there are still fewer and fewer fish in the Yangtze River, and often I can't catch a few pounds of fish a day. With no money to fish and no land to go ashore, fishermen have become one of the poorest and most vulnerable groups in the region. ”
In 2015, a Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter visited Baishui Port and found that many villagers had built two-story buildings in the open space of the flood control area by the river, but there were generally no new electrical appliances in their homes.
At that time, villager Lu Bihua told reporters that although the village let the fishermen build houses in the flood control area, they could not get a real estate certificate. Some have become dangerous houses, and they cannot receive subsidies for renovation. He is more than 40 years old, and his annual income from fishing and odd jobs is only about 20,000 yuan, and there are parents who are more than old, and there are children who are studying in primary school, and the monthly living expenses are at least thousands of yuan, which is barely enough to feed.
Many grassroots cadres also reported that due to the non-agricultural status of fishermen, they often become areas where rural minimum insurance, medical insurance, endowment insurance and other security policies are more difficult to cover.
Many fishermen hope that by taking advantage of the construction of the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the state can buy out their fishing boats and fishing gear at one time, and at the same time introduce reasonable social security measures, so that fishermen can change production and share the fruits of reform and development.
(Subtitle) Live and work peacefully on the shore, never "float on the water" again
Next door to the whitewater fishing village showroom is a newly built fishermen's station, and several retired and flexibly employed fishermen heard that journalist friends had come and met here to reminisce.
Everyone sat around and quickly opened the conversation box, you said a word, talking warmly about the changes in the small fishing village in the past 5 years.
"Banning fishing is a national plan to protect the Chinese sturgeon and protect our mother river." Now that fishing is banned throughout the Yangtze River Basin, we must respond to the call of the state. You see our ancestral teachings hanging on the walls. Liu Zekui was of high prestige and took the lead in speaking. On one wall, five large red characters were posted with the words "State Affairs First".
"Let's talk about what has changed in your life after the fishing ban, is it better to fish or to ban fishing?" The reporter asked.
"Forbidden well, no longer have to worry about fear." Two years ago, my wife was still fishing on the river, and my heart beat faster when I felt the wind. Li Qiying, 66, who used to fish with her husband, was in the Yichang district of the Yangtze River in 1985, and her 1-and-a-half-year-old son accidentally fell into the river and died, and she has returned to the shore to take care of her family.
This is not the first time that Li Qiying has suffered the pain of his loved ones being swallowed up by the river. In October 1978, the brother's family of three overturned the boat while fishing. At the mention of this, the corners of her eyes filled with tears.
"It's better to ban fishing!" If you can't help fishing, on such a cold day, others are stuck in the quilt, but we are 'stabbed' in the water. Liu Chengzhi, a 58-year-old fisherman, took over, "Fishing is too bitter, three sides facing the water and one side facing the sky, the boats in the river are many and large, and it is dangerous to start winds and waves." ”
"In the past, as soon as I sat down, I had to weave and make up the net, but now that I have time, I will walk by the river, play cards, and my life will be much better." Fisherman Jiang Daixiang interjected.
"It used to be said that fishermen were alive (fishing), dead (fishing corpses), picking up and drifting (picking up plastic bottles floating on the surface of the water), and sinking (using magnets to collect scrap iron that sank under the water), but now we eat well and wear well." Villager Liu Yi said humorously.
"Are you all adjusting to life on shore?" Is life guaranteed? The reporter asked again.
"My lover and I have a fruit shop in town, and the income is about the same as fishing, and it is much safer on the shore." Villager Liu Zegang preemptively said.
"I have two more years to go before I get my pension, and I work odd jobs at a nearby cement factory. Affected by the epidemic last year, I only earned more than 20,000 yuan, but my basic life was fine. Liu Chengzhi said.
"Zhicheng has developed well in recent years, there are more factories, and the government has also carried out multiple rounds of training and organized recruitment, as long as you want to work, you can't find a job." Liu Zekui, who is nearly seventy years old, said.
When I met the reporter in 2015, the old secretary was worried about his pension problems; today, the old couple can get a pension of more than 3,000 yuan per month.
"The older ones have new agricultural insurance, pension insurance or minimum living allowance for farmers whose land has been expropriated, and now everyone is more concerned about their health, walking on the riverside greenway and dancing on the square." Liu Zekui said with a smile.
"The environment in the village is very good now, pushing open the window is the sound of birds and flowers, you can still see a river of clear water, a blue sky, planes, ships can see clearly." Liu Zewei, a 63-year-old fisherman sitting in a corner, rushed to say that in addition to thanking the state for its good policies, the cohesion of the villagers is also stronger, and if there are contradictions between neighbors, the village can resolve them.
"You see he smiles every day and doesn't close his mouth, he has a pension, two sons, one graduated from Beijing University, one is the boss outside, not to mention how moist." Several fishermen laughed and said to Liu Zewei, "The next generation will no longer have to be fishermen." ”
Li Chunmei, secretary of the party branch of Baishuigang Village, said that among the more than 300 retired fishermen in the village, 105 have reached retirement age, 108 have been employed in enterprise units, and 143 have been flexibly employed. "In the past, fishermen did not have a fixed income, and some fishermen came to me every three or five minutes to report difficulties, but now that my life is guaranteed, I can live and work in peace and contentment, and there are far fewer contradictions in the village."
(Subtitle) Next time you will definitely see the finless porpoise
In 2019, the reporter visited Baishuigang Village for the second time, the Yangtze River Yichang China Sturgeon Nature Reserve where the village is located has begun to ban fishing, the villagers are retiring to the shore, and more than 100 fishing boats that have been confiscated and levied are piled up.
At that time, at the village committee, the reporter saw a sheet of application forms for fishermen to receive landing subsidies. The subsidies of 186 fishermen range from 100,000 yuan to 170,000 yuan per household, and the value of fishing boat nets and fishing boats is also carefully assessed and classified. At the village committee, the reporter also saw that the "Circular on Confirming the Basic Social Security Targets of Peasants WhoSe Land Was Expropriated" issued more than 10 years ago has been turned over to be dilapidated and old.
Fishermen switching to production and landing is considered to be the "hard bones" of the difficulty, why is Whitewater Harbor Village so smooth?
"First of all, the fishermen have a very good understanding of the protection of the Yangtze River, and the fishermen here are very simple, high-quality, and psychologically supportive." Shi Chunyan, director of the Yidu Agriculture and Rural Bureau, said.
She continued: "In addition, the policy of the party committee and the government is fully guaranteed, in addition to the implementation of various subsidies, fishermen are also included in the pension insurance of landless farmers." Now basically one person in each family has bought insurance, and when they reach the age, they can receive more than 1,000 yuan per month. The local economy is good and can provide enough jobs. Solving the problem of fishermen's pension and livelihood, the ban on fishing is easy. ”
"We are organizing a 18-person fish protection team to be included in public welfare posts to help some fishermen who do not have living security and employment." Shi Chunyan added.
The fishermen came ashore, but the roots could not be lost. In Baishuigang Village, unique fishermen's cultural places such as "Fishermen's Showroom" and "Fishermen's Station", Danyang Fishing Song, dances showing fishing culture, and dragon lantern teams, let the nostalgia have sustenance.
The reporter watched and listened as he walked, and it was getting late. Before leaving, the fishermen warmly invited reporters to come back to Whitewater Harbor after a while.
"A few days ago, more than 10 porpoises chased fish on the surface of the river. This should be the norm the next time you come, and you will definitely see the finless porpoise. One fisherman said confidently.
It was completely dark, and the lights in the small buildings by the river were lit up, and the smell of food wafted from time to time. In the village mouth jiangtan park, there are only a few old fishing boats that are used as landscapes, and they seem to be still telling the vicissitudes of this century-old small fishing village. (End)