Honorable Mention / 2020 / Portraiture / Culture

• Photographer
  LUIS MARIA BARRIO, Spain

Ukai is a traditional fishing method which uses trained cormorants to catch river fish such as sweetfish.This type of fishing has been around for over 1300 years in Japan&China.Each fisherman leads about a dozen cormorants on leashes who swim alongside the boat and dive under the water to catch fish by swallowing them whole. The fish are kept in a special pouch in the cormorant's throat to be retrieved later and are prevented from being swallowed by a snare around the neck of the bird. Each boat has a fire that hangs from its bow to provide light for the boatmen to steer and the birds to fish