Chagan Lake tourism gets boost from winter fishing events

Chagan Lake in Northeast China's Jilin province is witnessing a boom in its tourism sector, with its annual winter fishing events opening to great fanfare recently, according to local media reports.

In recent years, the province has given full play to the advantages of ice and snow fishing in its western region.

It has organized ice and snow fishing and hunting and cultural activities, so as to drive the rapid growth of winter tourism revenue.

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.

Relying on its favorable conditions, the local area is vigorously developing its fisheries tourism projects. Since 2018, Chagan Lake Scenic Area has received more than 9 million visitors and generated tourism income of some 8 billion yuan ($1.15 billion).

In terms of fish production, Jilin plays the carbon sink function of being an ecological fishery to purify the water environment. In the fishing process, by improving the mesh size of the winter net and changing the production mode of the net foil during the open water season, the fish productivity of Chagan Lake is sustainable.

At the same time, the water quality of the lake has been continuously improved through comprehensive measures such e improvements at human settlements – returning farmland to forests, grass and wetlands – as well as better sewage collection and treatment.

At present, after some extensive evaluations, the water quality of Chagan Lake has reached Class IV standards.

Today's Chagan Lake has become one of the most important fishing bases in Northeast China. It has set a Guinness World Record of 168,000 kilograms of fish caught from a single net.

Moreover, winter fishing in Chagan Lake has also been listed as a national intangible cultural heritage item.