Fish becoming rare as lake shrinks

An aerial view shows a shrinking Hongjianzhuo Lake in Yulin city, China's biggest freshwater lake in desert areas, Northwest China's Shaanxi province, Nov 18, 2011. The fish output of the lake used to reach 360 tons a year. However, it is rare to see any fish in the lake now, as they are dying out due to the lake's high salt content caused by the shrinking of the water surface. “The fish in Hongjianzhuo Lake have almost died out,” said Li Weiping, head of the fishery environment monitoring station in Shaanxi province. The lake has shrunk from 67 square kilometers in 1996 down to 41.8 square km this year.[Photo/Xinhua]