sbdcsierra Chapter 1617 Tuna
Chapter 1617 Tuna
Chapter 1617 Tuna
In the darkness, amidst the waves cleaved by the fishing boats, the blue-green lights were both eerie and familiar—swarms of bioluminescent algae.
Inside the cockpit, Ye Yaodong turned off the glaring navigation lights, leaving only the necessary instrument lighting, the dim screen light reflecting on his calm face.
On the radar screen, the eight dots representing the fleet continued to move steadily forward, the scan lines silently sweeping across the dark green unknown.
On the nautical chart, the red shipping route had extended to the vicinity of the steep contour lines representing the edge of the continental shelf.
He checked everything before telling the two men on duty, "Stay alert during night flights. If anything happens, knock on the cabin door and call me."
Last night, he was on duty with the captain. He taught them step by step for two days, and they practiced it. There were basically no problems. They were just waiting to finish their shift.
He deliberately lingered until almost 11 p.m., and since they would arrive at their destination tomorrow, he planned to hand them over to the first and second mates in the latter half of the night.
Anyway, he lives in the rear cabin lounge of the cockpit. If you need anything, just knock on the door and he'll get up immediately. We have to give them a chance to take charge on their own.
We've already passed through a tributary of the Kuroshio Current during the day. As long as we follow the established route and pay close attention to radar detection, there shouldn't be any major problems.
"I know, you go and rest. If anything happens, we can contact other fishing boats to discuss and ask questions. I'll call you again if there's anything serious."
Ye Yaodong nodded and went to rest.
In March, the chill of late winter had not yet completely faded in the East China Sea. The sea breeze, carrying a cold breath, blew against the icy portholes of the "Dongyu No. 1" cockpit, creating a thick fog.
There was no knocking at the door during the night, and he couldn't sleep soundly. He woke up early in the morning, touched the condensation on the window, and saw the orange light on the sea outside. The sun had just risen.
He put on his hat, scarf, and gloves before opening the door and going out.
Good morning, boss.
"Good morning, everything was normal last night?"
"That's normal. Nothing much happened last night. We just chatted, and then it got light."
Ye Yaodong nodded, "I'll go get some breakfast and then come back to relieve you."
"okay."
Before work even started, apart from the people in the engine room, the cooks, and the helpers, the other crew members were all lying in the lounge, waiting to conserve their energy so they could get to work once they reached their destination.
The azure sky hung low, and the sea was a deep indigo blue. The waves were not high, but they still struck the hull with a strong impact.
After finishing breakfast, Ye Yaodong went to relieve the two men. His gaze habitually swept across the radar screen, which was a calm, dark green.
"Dongzi, we should be there in a few more hours."
"Yes, barring any unforeseen circumstances, we should arrive before noon. Let's check the area later; if there are schools of fish, we can prepare to cast the net."
"Then let's wake up all the workers. The shifts are already arranged, and it's getting light, so we should get ready in advance."
"Go ahead and arrange the work on deck first."
Suddenly, on the sonar screen, an unusual, fast-moving "cloud" appeared in the water layer about one nautical mile to the right of the convoy, at a depth of 50-100 meters!
The cloud formation had blurred edges, a complex internal structure, and was constantly and violently changing shape, moving southeast at an astonishing speed!
"Dongzi! High-speed moving target! Very high density! Like...like a large school of fish being chased!" The first mate, who was still there, was both nervous and excited. He was also a distant relative.
One or two fishing boats, which were relatively close to him, began excitedly reporting their findings on his walkie-talkie.
Ye Yaodong's face lit up with delight, but his eyes narrowed, and he immediately ordered: "Searchlight! Deep water area on the starboard side! Continue the search!"
"receive."
"We'll reach our destination in a few hours. We can try to disperse and start casting our nets, but don't stray from the course. Contact us immediately if anything happens."
"receive."
There are plenty of fish near DYD Fishing Ground, so everyone doesn't need to follow him. Instead, they can spread out and explore on their own, where they might encounter fish of higher value.
The blinding white beams of the searchlights, like sharp swords, pierced the dark waters beside the ship in an instant. Where the beams penetrated, the scene instantly exploded in the cockpit!
"I go……"
"Fuck..."
"My goodness, so many fish?"
"Get rich, get rich..."
The three people in the cockpit were extremely excited, rubbing their hands together and staring intently at the screen.
In the seawater illuminated by the beams of light, an endless silver torrent was fleeing madly!
That was a massive colony of countless anchovies!
They are tiny, no more than the length of a finger, but their sheer number and density create a surging storm of liquid metal!
Although the sunlight was blocked by clouds and seawater, the reflection of the fish's scales under the bright light of the searchlights made the sea appear like a boiling sea of mercury!
Driven and compressed by an invisible, enormous pressure, these fish formed a giant vertical "fish column" with a diameter of nearly 100 meters and a height of tens of meters!
Ye Yaodong exclaimed in surprise, "Anchovy Storm!"
Only a certain number of fish can form such a fish column, and any fish column that can form such a rotating fish column can be called an XX storm.
"Huh? Anchovy?"
"Huh? This fish isn't worth much, it can only be used to make fish sauce. Damn, what a waste! We just detected this large school of fish, it turns out they're just anchovies."
Ye Yaodong pointed to the red dots that filled the screen, and then pointed to another ring of concentrated red dots.
"It's not just anchovies; the circle behind them is made up of other fish. This is a hunt for anchovies. If it were the same type of fish, these two waves of red dots would be clustered together, not scattered."
This is a good opportunity to teach.
"Those are two schools of fish. What kind of fish are they? Let's shine a spotlight on them and take a look."
"It's a school of Spanish mackerel. The searchlight just shone on a few scattered Spanish mackerel as well."
This enormous silver cylinder spun and tumbled at high speed in the seawater, with startled individuals constantly being flung out from its edge, creating a cloud of silver mist.
Around the huge silver cylinder, some mackerel swam around.
In early spring, mackerel are plump and vigorous, and now is the peak season for their spring catch.
"Go and inform everyone to prepare to go offline."
"receive."
"Call the captain over, you all go and rest."
"We can rest for a bit, check the operation and then rest. Let's go eat first."
Ye Yaodong had no objection. It would be an hour before the net was cast, and he needed to chase the fish first.
The workers have been notified and are already working according to the schedule.
The fishing boats followed closely behind the detected fish schools, ready to cast their nets and catch them all.
At the edge of the searchlight beams, in the deeper, darker waters, several enormous, suffocating shadows suddenly accelerated, like underwater torpedoes, crashing into the battlefield with terrifying water pressure fluctuations!
It's tuna!
"Holy crap, tuna, holy crap..." Ye Yaodong was instantly excited as he looked at the screen.
"Tuna, damn it."
He quickly picked up the walkie-talkie and urgently called other fishing boats.
"All vessels!! Emergency call to all vessels."
His voice was both excited and exhilarated.
The other fishing boats, unaware of what was happening, quickly responded upon hearing the emergency.
"Target: Mixed school of fish ahead, juvenile tuna have appeared. All fishing boats, move over here! The core area ahead!"
His eyes were glued to the screen. Outside the anchovy storm were blue-spotted mackerel, and now a swarm of rampaging tuna had appeared.
He was the one with the sharp eyes who noticed that the Anchovy Storm formation seemed to have been disrupted.
It is likely a group of juvenile bluefin tuna or bigeye tuna; the adult individuals should be in the open ocean at this time of year.
These kings of speed in the ocean, even in their juvenile stage, are far larger than mackerel, with streamlined bodies covered in smooth, mirror-like deep blue or bluish-black scales, and huge pectoral fins like wings.
Its powerful tail fin swung, creating a huge vortex that instantly shattered the originally orderly fish column.
Although it's called a juvenile, it's already two meters long, comparable to some large fish.
If the mackerel school is slowly enjoying a buffet, then these tuna are like gluttons devouring their prey.
"My God... tuna! It's baby tuna!"
When the captain brought the food up and heard this, his voice changed, filled with unbelievable ecstasy.
Tuna! Especially bluefin tuna, its value far surpasses that of mackerel!
Even the juveniles are veritable walking gold!
Sell to ordinary people and make a killing off them.
Ye Yaodong's heart pounded faster in his chest, and his blood almost rushed to his head. He hadn't been this excited in a long time.
When the ocean liner was first acquired and went to the deep sea, it happened to catch more than a hundred bigeye tuna, making a fortune at the time.
Today we encountered a school of fish.
The huge schools of anchovies are excellent bait, the frenzied blue-spotted mackerel are efficient deterrents, and the unexpected arrival of a school of tuna is a super surprise.
Ye Yaodong's voice was excited and enthusiastic, echoing through the cockpits of several other fishing boats via high-frequency radio.
"The approaching fishing boats, seize the best net-casting spots! Deep-water trawls, widest opening! Maximum depth! Full speed ahead! Charge in!!"
"Lay the net! Lay it as deep as possible! Open it to maximum tension! Set the cable tension to the maximum!!"
At that moment, shouts came from the deck through his walkie-talkie.
"Boss, the deck is ready, we can start casting the nets immediately."
"The crew should assemble quickly, the chief engineer should start the hydraulic winch, and the net handlers should also check everything."
"receive."
The chief engineer hoisted a 2-ton iron mesh sheet to the outside of the ship; the net workers inspected the connection points of the netting, steel cables, and sinkers to ensure there was no wear or loose knots.
The mesh board, along with the sinker net, sank into the sea first, relying on gravity to quickly dive down, opening the mesh opening horizontally and crashing it underwater.
The target was the sea ahead, bubbling with silver and blue light.
Ye Yaodong kept a close eye on the sonar and searchlight field of view, precisely calculating the angle and speed, and maneuvered the fleet into the whirlpool of fish.
The enormous trawl net opened its greedy maw, its target the mackerel swarm that still shimmered with an alluring blue light amidst the chaos, and the massive tuna figures that swam wildly against the silver background, like underwater gold!
"Dongyu No. 1 has cast its net and entered the core area. Other fishing boats have completed their reconnaissance and will cast their nets nearby."
"receive."
The captain, who had been called over, was so excited that he didn't even bother to eat breakfast, leaving it on the control panel and staring intently at the screen.
"We're rich! If we catch a few more tuna in this net, we'll make a fortune, especially bluefin tuna."
Ye Yaodong thought so too. He kept his eyes glued to the screen. Luckily, he got up early in the morning and didn't miss it.
"Who cares if it's mackerel or tuna, it's all money in the net! God bless us! This one net will make enough to last a year! When we get back, I'll give everyone red envelopes!"
"Really?" The captain was overjoyed.
"Seriously, if we get more Bluefin Tuna, doubling my salary this month wouldn't be a problem."
"Great! Let's check the catch later and tell everyone. They'll be ecstatic. We've only just set sail."
"Let's wait until we receive the goods, lest we get excited for nothing."
"No way, we'll definitely catch lots and lots of tuna!"
Ye Yaodong stared intently at the display screen, then picked up the walkie-talkie and gave instructions to the deck, still feeling uneasy.
"Attention on the deck of Dongyu No. 1: Monitor the tension of the steel cables and pay close attention."
"receive."
This is to prevent the net from breaking due to deep-sea turbulence or collisions with large fish.
He controlled his direction of travel based on the density of the fish, slowly following the movement of the school.
Not long after he cast his net, two more boats followed suit, casting their nets in quick succession, and followed the path he had taken.
He figured that if several boats came together targeting this school of fish, they might be able to catch them all in one fell swoop.
"Dongzi, we've had a great start. We've encountered such a large mixed school of fish before we even reached our destination."
Ye Yaodong nodded happily, "Yes, it's a good omen."
“Aside from anchovies being worthless, mackerel is valuable and sells well; any quantity can be sold out in one night.”
"We just detected them. Those mackerel are at least half a meter long, and some are as long as a meter. Each one weighs at least 20 or 30 kilograms."
"This net is going to be a huge hit. Such a big mackerel isn't cheap, not to mention there's also tuna, which is very rare. As soon as it appears at the dock, it will be snapped up by those bosses."
“Those anchovies are fine too. If it were last year, we would have had to throw them back into the sea. Don’t forget that this year the ship has an additional fishmeal processing line.”
“Yes, yes, fishmeal isn’t cheap either. The main advantage is that it can be processed on the ship, so there’s no waste at all, it’s a great way to make use of waste. With a ship this big, we dump countless tons of cargo back into the sea every day, so we need a processing line. You’re so smart, you’ve thought of everything so thoroughly, this ship is a perfect choice.”
It's not just one person who admires Ye Yaodong; everyone respects him and no longer sees him as a young man.
A man's worth is determined by his abilities.
Capable people deserve respect, and everyone admires the strong.
"This haul can be shorter, about two hours later. I'll also check how much of the catch can be processed into a ton of fishmeal."
The trillions of anchovies below could be used to start his production line.
If there were no production line, he might have transported some anchovies back to his fish sauce factory for fermentation when delivering a batch of goods to his hometown.
Now we don't need to, and we can save on transportation fuel costs. The processing can be completed on the ship, and the goods can be sold as soon as they land.
His boat consumes about 250 liters of fuel per hour. The price of diesel has now risen to about one yuan per liter. This price fluctuates, sometimes high and sometimes low, but it is roughly equivalent to 250 yuan per hour.
Working a day costs 6000 yuan just for fuel. You can't make much money if you don't earn tens of thousands of yuan a day.
However, the area is rich in resources and there is little competition among fishing boats, so there is no fear of losing money.
It's hard to say what will happen after the millennium. With too many ships and depleted resources, the government will have to provide various subsidies and preferential treatment.
"I've struck it rich! I heard that fishmeal feed is also valuable."
"Well, it's about four or five thousand a ton, depending on the market price that day."
"We didn't miss a single penny..."
"Of course, going to sea is risking your life, so if you can make money, you should make it..."
The two chatted idly while staring at the screen, which helped them relax.
I was so excited when we first spotted the tuna, but now I'm calming down and just waiting to haul in the catch and see what happens.
Ye Yaodong was in the mood to guide him on how to operate the fishing boat.
Two hours later, when it was time to haul in the net, he specifically handed it over to the captain, intending to go down to the deck to direct the operation and personally inspect the catch.
"Get the nets ready. I'm leaving it to you. I'll go up to the deck to oversee things. If there are any problems, call the deck via walkie-talkie."
"it is good."
Ye Yaodong, holding binoculars, first stood on the wheelhouse and looked out over the nearby sea to check the situation.
The other seven boats were still scattered behind them, working. They probably wouldn't be able to haul in the nets so quickly, since his boat was the first to rush into the core area and seize the best spot to cast the nets.
It can only be said that his ship gets the meat, while the other ships get the soup.
After they finish catching this wave of fish, they have to continue searching for the next wave and continue their work.
The massive deep-water trawl winch roared as it pushed the limits of its power, releasing thick steel cables with frenzied speed.
The fishing boat slowed down, and the fishing nets underneath were being slowly pulled in.
The fishing net is five or six hundred meters long, so it's not quick to haul it in; it takes at least half an hour. The more fish there is, the slower it takes to haul in. The winch is already roaring, which shows how big this net is.
The crew members on deck all stood waiting for the net to be hauled in, and everyone discussed it excitedly.
When they saw him arrive, they all started asking him questions all at once.
"Boss, I heard there are tons of bluefin tuna in this net? We're rich!"
"Tuna is valuable; I heard it costs tens of yuan per kilogram, especially bluefin tuna."
"I heard it's for export; it doesn't sell well domestically, so it's mostly sold to the Japanese."
"Selling to the Japanese is a good idea, we can make a killing off them."
"I heard there are quite a few small fishing boats in this area. Luckily, we caught this tuna catch and didn't let those little devils get away with it."
"That's right, we definitely can't let them make money, we should make a killing off them."
Ye Yaodong said with a smile, "It may not be a bluefin tuna, it could also be a longfin tuna. Let's bring it up and take a look."
"Longfin tuna doesn't seem to be that expensive, it only costs a few dollars per pound."
Ye Yaodong added, "These are just cubs, so the price might be even lower. Anyway, as long as there are enough of them, we'll make a fortune."
"Yes, now any bluefin tuna can sell for thousands of dollars. This fish is more valuable than life itself."
"That's absolutely right."
"We chose a good date for this sea voyage..."
Ye Yaodong also hoped so. Young fish weren't that valuable, but they were still more valuable than ordinary fish. Compared to Spanish mackerel, they were several times more expensive.
Chief Engineer Zhou pulled the control lever sharply, and the hydraulic winch made a sound. The 40mm diameter main steel cable was taut like a fully drawn bow, with a high-frequency vibrating hum, forcibly dragging the behemoth in the deep sea to the surface.
The crew gripped the anti-slip ropes tightly, their eyes fixed on the sea, the deck clanging against the steel cables as they were torn apart.
The fishing net, several hundred meters long, gradually floated to the surface, densely packed with fish of all sizes.
The steely blue scales of the blue-spotted mackerel and the deep blue backs of juvenile tuna shimmered wildly through the mesh of the net.
As for the other small, insignificant fish, they have long been ignored by everyone and are no longer even in sight.
Everyone crowded around, leaning against the ship's side and cheering with delight.
"Bluefin Golden Spear!"
Wow, so many tuna!
"It's so big, is it still called a juvenile fish?"
"This net has been incredibly profitable! There are so many mackerel, and they're all huge!"
"This net will yield dozens of tons! Tens of thousands of yuan! We're rich!"
Ye Yaodong was also extremely excited. "Great victory! Hurry up, don't just celebrate, get the bamboo poles, scoop up the net, and start the crane."
"Yes, bring the goods up and see how many packages there are, and then count how many tuna there are."
"It looks like there are a lot of longfin tuna?"
"It doesn't matter, they're all more expensive than regular fish anyway, as long as we make a profit."
"Our ship will be the first to rush in, so all the cargo will definitely be concentrated here..."
Amidst excited discussions, the fish collection bags were hooked up and attached to the crane. The seawater-soaked bags struck the ship's side, and seawater poured down in torrents.
The full bag of fish was squeezed and moved to the fish dumping area. Two workers used hydraulic shears to cut open the snap knot at the bottom of the bag, and the fish poured out under gravity.
The fish must be briefly kept in the draining area to control the water flow; otherwise, the water will flood the sorting area.
The crew then used rubber-coated shovels to push and block the swarm of fish, so that everyone could see what kind of fish were in the densely packed swarm.
"Holy crap, dozens of tuna..."
"This one pack contains dozens of strips, and I estimate we can put in another 20 or so packs!"
"There are at least several hundred, maybe even a thousand, we've made a fortune!"
"123456... There are six bluefin tuna, and the rest are longfin tuna. They are all really juveniles, and the juveniles are already about two meters long."
Ye Yaodong happily ordered, "Hurry up and transport them to the sorting station. Get to work! Pick out all the ones that need to be bled, bleed them, and then freeze them."
"immediately."
The workers were all ready and waiting for the goods to be delivered. Then, some sorted the goods, some bled them, and others processed them on the assembly line.
They used shovels to push the fish onto the conveyor belt and then to the sorting table. Everyone put on gloves and quickly sorted the fish, with the larger tuna being the first to be carried out and sent to the processing area.
Ye Yaodong was relieved to see the experienced mentors guiding the newcomers in an orderly manner. Everyone needed time to adjust when they first set sail, and experience was gained through accumulation.
He didn't leave either, wanting to watch the remaining cargo being hoisted up and count it to see roughly how many tuna there were and how much cargo this net would yield.