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Cormorant fishing on Erhai Lake near Dali

The ancient form of fishing with Cormorant birds is still in existence, but only for tourists. A piece of string is tired around the water birds neck, inhibiting them from swallowing their catch. The birds swim along the boat diving for fish. When one is caught, the fisherman hails the bird back to the boat and the fish is then removed from the mouth. I originally thought this was going to be a real fishing trip, but on arrival quickly realized it's purely a tourist show.

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Cormorants in their waiting pen	Birds are secured to perch	Loaded up and ready to go fishing
The birds follow the boat while looking and diving for fish	Close-up of these beautiful birds. Note string around neck to prevent swallowing of fish	Trolling along the shore
Removing a small fish that the bird caught	The birds only caught a few tiny fish as the lake is over fished	Pulling the birds back into the boat. Does this hurt the birds?
Cormorants resting on the way back to the docks	Almost back to the docks
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