中華人民共和國成立之初，政府在「土改」中順帶著對湖區進行了改造，但這種僅依據佔有土地狀況的改造，無法完全替代獨立實施的「水上民主改革」，使得湖區的「水改」並不徹底。1950年6月頒行的〈中華人民共和國土地改革法〉，規定湖沼河港均歸國家所有，由政府管理經營。於是，湖區並沒有經歷重新將湖業、柴洲等分配給普通漁民的過程，而是直接進入到國有階段。為落實國家對湖泊的管理，湖北省政府設置湖業管理局，其主要業務有二，一是徵收湖稅，一是發展水產。其中，徵收湖稅時，政府打掉了中間層，直接作為湖主與勞作者打交道，發展水產則體現出現代國家發展經濟的職能，二者均顯示了出現在湖區的國家具有「現代國家」的性質。管理湖泊，最重要者為管理湖區的人。政府以土地上實施的政策與措施為藍本，當地政府在定居點控制漁民，湖業局在作業湖區進行管理，並將漁民的自我管理與政府的管控相結合，織成管理水上活動人群的網絡。雖然這種作法並未完全、有效地解決湖區問題，但在降低湖稅稅率、成立漁民互助組，以及發放漁業貸款等措施中，漁民的生活與作業條件有所改善。其中，改湖業局為水產局，將以「發展水產」為中心的「社會主義經濟建設」作為主要工作內容，可達到增產的目的，也改善了漁民的作業狀況。綜合而言，本文意在從不同於土地的角度，展現出新中國國家政權建設的歷程，然而，看到的仍是一個土地上故事的翻版。浪花雖然各異，但仍是在時代的洪流中翻滾。

At the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the government reformed the lake district in the overall process of “land reform.” However, this transformation was only focused on the status of land possession and could not completely cover an independent “water reform.” The Law promulgated in June 1950 stipulated that lakes and rivers were owned by the state and would be managed by the government. Therefore, the lake district did not undergo the process of redistributing to fishermen, but rather directly entered the state ownership stage. In order to implement the state management of lakes, Hubei Provincial Government set up the Lake Administration Bureau, whose main business was twofold: collecting tax and developing aquatic products. As to collecting tax, the government cut out the middlemen and directly dealt the laborers as lake owner. The development of aquatic products reflected the function of a modern government in a developing economy. Both efforts reflect the government’s function in the lake region as a “modern government.” Managing the lake, ultimately, is about managing the people in the lake district. Based on the policies and measures implemented for the land, the local government controls the fishermen in the settlements, and the Lake Administration Bureau manages the lake and integrates the self-management of the fishermen under the government's control, thus forming a network to manage the fishermen. However, it is difficult to say that this approach has completely and effectively solved the problems of lake administration. With the lower tax rate, fishermen peer support, and loans for fishing and other measures, the fishermen’s life and work conditions have improved. Among its tasks, the reform of Lake Administration Bureau, takes the “development of aquatic products” as the main work of socialist economic construction, to stimulate production and materially improve the fishermen’s work conditions.