Authorities in east China's Jiangxi Province said Thursday they had begun an investigation, which will include using helicopters, to eliminate giant nets for illegal hunting of migrant birds on Poyang Lake, China's largest freshwater lake.

Three inspection teams co-organized by the province's forest public security bureau, the wildlife protection bureau, and the Management Bureau of the Poyang Lake Natural Reserve (MBPLNR), removed nets that were several kilometers long from the lake after media reports revealed the inhuman methods for capturing birds, said Zhu Qi, chief of the MBPLNR.

"Helicopters will be used to find the missed spots over the lake, if weather permits," Zhu said.

Zhu added that a 15-day investigation started Thursday to uncover information about bird hunters at local villages in a bid to attack the illegal bird hunting and selling of birds.

Yang said the MBPLNR had no more than 70 workers to inspect the lake, with an area of nearly 5,000 square kilometers, and that bird hunting only led to civil penalties, instead of criminal ones, which revealed the situation that illegal bird hunting was difficult to be prevented on the lake area.

Liu Guanhua, deputy chief of the MBPLNR, said a swan hunter could be fined 10,000 yuan, but if he refused to pay, they could do nothing but let him go after 24 hours in custody.

"Bird protection needs the participation of everybody," Liu said.

Located in the northern part of Jiangxi, Poyang Lake is an important habitat for migrant birds in winter. About 95 percent of the world's white cranes, half of the white-napped cranes and 60 percent of swan geese were believed to migrate there each year.

(Xinhua News Agency December 3, 2010)