Former Yangtze fishermen find their feet ashore

Many have left their boats to become protection officers for Asia's longest waterway

As the old Chinese saying goes, "If you live on a mountain, you live off the mountain; if you live by the water, you live off the water."

For hundreds, if not thousands, of years, many people living near the Yangtze River regarded Asia's longest waterway as nothing but a source of food and income.

According to official estimates, more than 113,000 fishing boats and nearly 280,000 fishermen work along the river.