All hands get to work as winter fishing begins on Yunhe Lake. [Photo/WeChat account: lishuixinwen]

There was a real sense of anticipation recently, as the short winter fishing season officially kicked off on Yunhe Lake, located in Yunhe county administered by Lishui city in East China's Zhejiang province.

According to local fishermen, this year they will only catch half the fish and the small ones will be spared, to ecologically help purify the water.

Villagers living around the lake used to farm fish in enclosures, but due to the long-term and sub-standard methods the water became seriously polluted and the levels of blue-green algae increased rapidly.

The locals then agreed to stop that kind of fish farming and decided to raise silver carp and bighead carp in the lake instead, in the hope of receiving economic as well as ecological benefits.

This winter's fishing season will last about 50 days and the total output will reach about 200 tons, local fishermen said.