A new life ashore

Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, the fishing village of Luoshan, Honghu city, Hubei province is continually enveloped in cloud and rain.

The clatter and clang of cranes, excavators and cutting tools goes on all day. Fisherman Xia Mingxing looks on as his long steel-hulled fishing boat is being dismantled, a sight which still brings tears to the eye of the 57-year-old who is reluctant to leave after spending a lifetime on the water on the boat that long afforded him a livelihood.

The fisherman's port is located in the Yangtze River Dolphin National Nature Reserve in the Xinluo section of the Yangtze River. China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs recently released a relocation plan, Notice on the Scope and Time of Fishing in Key Waters of the Yangtze River, which will see around 110,000 fishing boats and 280,000 fishermen gradually bid farewell to their "lives afloat" and retreat to shore and start a new life.