FEATURE: Capturing the cormorants that do cormorant fishing

"Ukai" is a fishing method in which trained Japanese cormorants catch and retrieve river fish in a symbiotic relationship with a fisherman, but trapping the birds themselves is just as important to keeping the tradition alive.In cormorant fishing that dates back 1,300 years, master fishermen called "usho" in long wooden boats lead out a dozen or so cormorants tethered with ropes. The birds swim alongside and dive underwater to capture fish, which they hold in their prodigious pouch-like gullets.The cormorants have a precise length of rope tied around their necks, allowing them to swallow sm…READ FULL ARTICLE