(FOCUS)CHINA-JIANGXI-POYANG LAKE-FISHERMEN-NEW LIFE(CN)

NANCHANG, June 28, 2020 -- Wu Huashan displays photos of the fishing boats he once owned in Xiangshan Township, Nanchang, east China's Jiangxi Province, June 5, 2020. Having learned fishing at an early age with his parents, Wu was a skilled fisherman and was head of a local fishery association. In late 2019, he bade farewell to his boats and started a crayfish business. China began a 10-year fishing moratorium from the beginning of this year in 332 conservation areas in the Yangtze River basin, which will be expanded to all the natural waterways of the country's longest river and its major tributaries from no later than Jan. 1, 2021. This comes after decades of human activities such as water pollution, overfishing, sand excavation and quarrying have caused serious ecological destruction in the Yangtze River basin. In areas around the Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake in the eastern province of Jiangxi, there are more than 300 traditional fishing villages housing over 100,000 residents. Due to the ban, those fishermen will have to bid farewell to their traditional roles and embrace new identities ashore. TO GO WITH Xinhua Headlines: Chinese fishermen embrace new life ashore (Photo by Peng Zhaozhi/Xinhua via Getty) (Xinhua/Peng Zhaozhi via Getty Images)