Trapped fish leap into the air as fishermen close the net, at the start of the summer fishing season at Chagan Lake. [Photo provided to gojilin.gov.cn]

The summer fishing season has opened at Chagan Lake, located in Northeast China's Jilin province, according to local media reports.

Chagan Lake is among the top 10 freshwater lakes in China, as well as being a national 4A-level scenic spot.

Its fishermen are China's last remaining fishing tribe. During the winter fishing season they drill holes in the ice, throw in their fishing nets and use horses to pull winches as they trawl for a catch. In doing so, they are preserving a tradition that dates back more than 1,000 years.

By stark contrast, summer fishing is relatively easy. In the process of fishing, the fishermen choose large eye nets to catch only the larger fish and leave the small fish so that they can continue to breed in the lake.

Fishing boats get to work on Chagan Lake. [Photo provided to gojilin.gov.cn]

It can be seen from the watershed map of Chagan Lake that by opening up the channels between the water systems, the high-quality water source of the Songhua River has been introduced into the lake area, thereby expanding the lake's water area.

At the same time, in order to make the lake water a virtuous circle, in the North Lake of Chagan Lake, the lake water was introduced into the Nenjiang River through wetland degradation.

Currently, the water surface of Chagan Lake covers 420 square kilometers and nearly 70 species of fish live in it, yielding an annual catch of over 6,000 metric tons.

Relying on its favorable ecological resources, the local area is vigorously developing its fisheries tourism projects. Last year, Chagan Lake received more than 2 million visitors.

Fishermen are hard at work, bringing in their catch at Chagan Lake. [Photo provided to gojilin.gov.cn]