The United Fishing Method: History, Development, and Applications in China

The United Fishing Method was first developed and tested in a reservoir in mid-1960s in the Yangtze River Basin. The method includes driving, blocking, gill netting, and trapping, primarily targeting on harvesting fish species at the surface to middle layers in large water bodies such reservoirs and lakes. Those species are usually including Silver Carp Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, Bighead Carp H. nobilis, Grass Carp Ctenopharyngodon idella and others. In the past several decades, this method has been developed and modified to further improve harvesting efficiency as well as including resources conservation considerations. The current application of this method is still popular in harvesting fishes in large lakes and reservoirs in China even some modifications exist. Future applications of this method are discussed in this study.