For those who enjoy the freshest fish in the first pot and want to try something new, this is basically a thing of the past.
Especially for ocean-going vessels, the first to try it out are always the crew members on the fishing boats; there is never a second option.
Even if a pound of black tiger shrimp can sell for several hundred yuan, Bai Yu and his friends still eat it without hesitation.
Tonight's dinner consisted of two black tiger prawns and two mantis shrimps per person, plus a large plate of pan-fried ribbonfish pieces.
As for staple foods, you can eat some noodles if you need them, or you can choose not to eat them if you don't want to.
After all, two black tiger prawns and two mantis shrimp already weigh quite a bit.
Uncle Li specially went to the freezer to pick out the black tiger prawns, specifically choosing a super-large black tiger prawn weighing about three ounces, to prepare dinner for the crew.
Bai Yu and Wang Hai were among the first to eat at the restaurant. The two brothers not only took four large prawns, but also some pan-fried ribbonfish, and each ordered a large bowl of seafood noodles.
This noodle dish also contains seafood, but compared to black tiger prawns and mantis shrimp, the seafood in the seafood noodles is much more ordinary.
The seafood here is all from their recent fishing trips, the scraps from the trawls, such as small edible fish, squid, octopus, and the like.
The quantity wasn't much, but it was enough for the crew to eat.
After filling his stomach, Bai Yu greeted Uncle Li and then returned to the deck with Wang Hai to continue their work.
Rest? What's that? It has nothing to do with the two of them.
For sailors at sea, the busiest time is when they spot a school of fish on the high seas.
Especially in the current situation, where the fishing speed exceeds the crew's ability to process the catch, it often requires the entire crew to mobilize, regardless of their specific roles.
Anyone who has time to lend a hand will contribute to cleaning the fish. Even if you need to rest, you must finish your work first. Only when you are too tired to continue and someone takes over your shift can you have time to rest.
Although Bai Yu was the boss, he didn't want to be a boss who did nothing, so after finishing his meal, he immediately went back to the deck and continued working.
For several days in a row, Bai Yu and Wang Hai were busy on the deck. Except for the first day, which was basically a full-scale mobilization, the remaining days were a little better.
It's unclear what exactly happened with the school of ribbonfish Bai Yu found; in any case, their first day's catch was a mixture of ribbonfish and shrimp.
However, by the second day, the catch from trawls became very mixed, with basically any kind of fish being caught.
Although the variety has increased, the quantity has decreased significantly, which is still manageable for the crew on deck.
The only difficult part was for the sorting staff inside the ship's hold. They had to classify all kinds of fish, which was really troublesome.
The situation in the ocean is truly ever-changing. Originally, Bai Yu was just searching for a school of ribbonfish, but somehow it turned into a chaotic free-for-all.
Moreover, it was because of this constant stream of fish that Bai Yu was unable to continue searching for other schools of fish.
After all, he can't just tell others that he's not going to fish here anymore, that he doesn't want the fish here, and that he's going to find fish elsewhere, can he?
Do you think this is possible? Absolutely not. No one would give up immediate benefits to invest in something with unseen returns.
Although the catch here was rather varied and not particularly large, they had been fishing for four or five days, averaging several tens of tons per day.
As for the value of the harvest, according to the analysis of experienced crew members on board, the daily profit exceeds one million, or even higher.
After finishing the fishing in the past few days, the storage capacity of their Yuxue vessel has reached as high as eight or nine hundred tons, with only one-third of the remaining load capacity.
On the fifteenth day at sea, Bai Yu, unusually, did not stay on the deck, but went to the captain's cabin on the third floor to learn how to sail from his uncle.
They didn't find any fish that day, and the crew wasn't too busy. Whether Bai Yu and Wang Hai were on deck or not didn't really matter; he could play by himself for a while.
"Uncle, we've been in the East China Sea for five days now, how come we haven't encountered any other fishing boats?"
"Isn't it said that the East China Sea is rich in marine resources, so there should be a lot of ships there? How come we haven't encountered many?"
Bai Yu stood in front of the ship's rudder, using his uncle's knowledge to steer it. Currently, all he was learning was how to steer.
Only after Bai Yu has a firm grip on the rudder will his uncle teach him the other steps.
The eldest uncle was taken aback by Bai Yu's question. Then he recalled that things seemed to be as Bai Yu said; they hadn't encountered many other ships on this voyage.
Whether in the South China Sea or now in the East China Sea, the number of ships they encountered was extremely limited, easily countable on two hands.
While the ocean is indeed vast, whether it's dozens or hundreds of ships, or even thousands or tens of thousands, they are all very insignificant on the open sea.
However, Bai Yu and his crew did not stay in one place. They traveled all the way from the South China Sea to the East China Sea. Since their ships were constantly moving, there was no reason why they wouldn't encounter other ships.
But upon further reflection, the eldest uncle realized the key factor.
"Xiaoyu, have you forgotten how we set sail? Now, since the outbreak of the pandemic, various regulations have been introduced in different places, making it much harder to go out to sea than before."
For ships like ours that can sail to the open sea, the crew members must reach a certain level before they can go out to sea. Otherwise, if there are too few crew members, there is not much point in going out to sea. If no one is working, it is useless to find schools of fish.
Our company's crew members are quite good; they are mostly locals from Hainan Province. Only three of them were stuck at home and couldn't get out of the port this time, so it didn't have a huge impact on us.
By the way, speaking of this, Xiaoyu, I have an idea. Would you like to hear it?
Regarding the lack of encounters with other ships at sea, the eldest uncle offered Bai Yu his own insight, and then, as if suddenly remembering something, looked at Bai Yu and asked.
"Uncle, just say what you're thinking. You have much more experience in this area than I do. I'll listen to you, right, cousin?"
While echoing her uncle, Bai Yu looked at Liu Tianyu behind her and said.
"You two can just talk about your business, why are you dragging me into this? Can't you see Xiaohai and I are watching a movie?"
Bai Yu wanted to team up with Liu Tianyu, but the latter ignored him and instead watched a movie with Wang Hai.
Bai Yu brought this movie with him. He knew there was no signal at sea, so in order to pass the time on the high seas, he specially bought a tablet and downloaded a bunch of movies on it, all of them highly rated, both domestic and foreign.
Uncle didn't pay much attention to Bai Yu and the others' little tricks, and instead went on to talk about his own thoughts.
"Xiaoyu, how long do you think this epidemic will last? When will it end?"
If you were to ask Bai Yu if he knew the answer to his uncle's question, he could say that he did, but he couldn't say it.
He had information about the epidemic in his mind, from its outbreak to its end, and the complete reopening of the country. Bai Yu had a general understanding of it all.
However, he wouldn't say, only giving a somewhat vague guess.
"Uncle, nobody can say for sure, but we can make a guess based on the SARS outbreak. SARS lasted for more than a year, with the most severe period lasting more than half a year."
If we calculate it this way, the current epidemic has spread throughout the country and the world. Eradicating it completely will not be a simple task; it will certainly take no less time than SARS.
"Yes, just like you said, if this pandemic lasts for a year or two, it will definitely affect our fishing at sea."
If we can't go to sea because too many crew members are stuck at home, then if things go as I suggest, we should wait until we get back this time...
We're supposed to be in quarantine, so we'll quarantine on the fishing boat. If the epidemic doesn't improve after the quarantine, we'll continue to quarantine on the boat until we're done. Then we'll go out to sea without contacting anyone.
This way, at least it won't delay our fishing trip. Do you think this method is feasible?
? ? ?
Bai Yu was stunned after hearing what his uncle said; he really hadn't expected this.
The reason he chose to buy a fishing boat was because he knew that the impact of the pandemic on the ocean was not significant, or even negligible.
However, he hadn't considered that the pandemic would affect the crew. If the crew were stuck at home and unable to leave, causing the fishing boat to be stranded at the dock, they would suffer huge losses.
"Uncle, your idea is quite good, but if we have that many, will the crew agree?"
If the pandemic lasts for a year, we can't expect people to live on a ship for a whole year; that would be too much of a torment.
While Bai Yu agreed with her uncle's idea, she was also somewhat uneasy about it.
The main problem is the pandemic; nobody knows when it will come or when it will end. Even if Bai Yu has another set of memories, they are very limited.
Bai Yu only had a vague impression of many things and couldn't say that he knew everything.
"Xiaoyu, this is not a problem. After all, they are paid by you, and they know what they're doing in these matters."
And you could do this: for the crew members who agree to be quarantined on the fishing boat, as long as it doesn't interfere with our sea voyages, why don't we give them a little extra pay each month?
As long as our fishing boats aren't left idle at the dock, paying a little extra wages isn't a big problem. Judging from our catch these past few days, the extra wages are just the cost of one more net's catch.
Bai Yu nodded repeatedly as she listened to her uncle's words.
Just like my uncle said, as long as the fishing boats can get moving and not be stuck at the dock for too long, it's okay to pay the crew more wages.
"Uncle, how about we find some time later to tell the crew about this situation?"
"Okay, you don't need to get involved in this. Just let Tianyu talk to them about it."
With his uncle's approval, the task fell to Liu Tianyu, who was watching a movie nearby.
When Liu Tianyu heard his father mention his name, he looked bewildered, not yet understanding the situation.
But none of that matters. Since his uncle has already made the decision, Liu Tianyu's thoughts are no longer important; he just needs to do as he's told.
Afterwards, Liu Tianyu was kicked out by his uncle, and went to the rest area on the second deck, where he chatted with the other crew members.
In just one day, Liu Tianyu had conveyed the message and convinced everyone to self-isolate on the ship after returning to the dock.
When it's time to go to sea, they can simply apply to the relevant departments to go to sea.
Over the next few days, their fishing boat, Yuxue, continued sailing in the East China Sea, launching a campaign to catch fish there.
...........
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