``People just wanted to get rich, so everyone, including me, began using electricity, explosives, poison and all other kinds of damaging methods to catch fish,'' he said.
Hongze Lake is part of a network of water bodies linked to the Yangtze River, China's biggest waterway whose watershed provides fresh water for 400 million people and sustains 70 percent of the country's rice cultivation.
It's also a key area for industry and about 25 billion tons of waste are dumped directly into the river each year.
The World Wildlife Federation (WWF) is seeking to revive marshlands in the river's network of lakes to revive fishing and improve flood protection.
``It's a long process, but this is first step toward healing the Yangtze,'' said Dermont O'Gorman, country director for WWF.
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