Fang Yi and the two boatmen weren't working at the moment; instead, they were standing on the ship's side, staring wide-eyed at the gray whale in the sea.
I was both excited and worried.
Such a colossal creature is not so easy to see.
At the same time, there was also the fear that the Dong Sheng might have some problems after being hit by the gray whale.
"Such a big fish? What kind of fish is it?"
"It should be a whale, but I've never seen one before."
"This fish is too big. It's rare to see it in coastal waters. You can only see it when you go fishing in the open sea with a big ship."
Feng Ye leaned closer and interjected, "That's a gray whale."
"It really is a whale, so why is it keeping crashing into the ship, but it doesn't seem to be going crazy?"
"It has so many barnacles on its body that it probably thinks the boat is a good tool for scratching itself and is trying to rub off the barnacles in this way."
Fang Yi nodded thoughtfully, then asked expectantly, "Old Feng, is there any way to catch this big guy?"
Upon hearing this, the two boatmen's eyes lit up, and they turned to look at Feng Ye hopefully.
If we could really catch this guy, we could definitely sell him for a lot of money.
Feng Ye was stunned.
He never had this idea, nor did he expect that Fang Yi, as a police officer, would have such a thought.
This also shows how low the level of awareness of animal protection laws is.
He didn't bother to talk about protecting animals, as it would be too troublesome to explain. He just gave a wry smile and said, "Catch gray whales? What are you thinking? Are you crazy?"
"My boat is a trawler, not a professional whaling vessel. This gray whale weighs at least twenty or thirty tons. How did you manage to catch it?"
Upon hearing this, all three couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed.
"Stop looking and get to work. I had my brother speed things up, so it shouldn't be long before we can leave it behind."
The two boatmen shook their heads helplessly and turned away to continue their work with regret.
Only Fang Yi remained standing by the ship's railing, his gaze following the gray whale's silhouette with lingering affection.
Feng Ye ignored it and squatted down to sort through the fish and shrimp that filled the boat.
As the Dong Sheng gradually increased its speed, the Gray Whale seemed to be struggling to keep up.
Although it relentlessly pursued, it was left further and further behind, gradually disappearing from their sight.
Feng Ye even ran up to the cockpit to check the speed and found that it wasn't very fast, only increasing to 6 nautical miles.
Even at this speed, the gray whale couldn't keep up, which shows that its swimming speed has been affected by the barnacles.
...
A new day.
The afternoon sun shines on the sea, making it look like countless golden gems are gently dancing.
The three fishing boats sailed side by side at a certain distance, and apart from the occasional seagull flying by, there was no other movement on the sea.
Fang Yi hid in the shade, looking around with binoculars.
This telescope was brought over by Feng Ye from the Dong Sheng ship yesterday morning when he was selling goods.
Suddenly, his eyes widened in disbelief. He put down the binoculars, rubbed his eyes, and then raised them again to examine them closely.
In the distance, on the horizon, a huge dark shadow floated on the sea, looking very much like the gray whale we encountered the day before yesterday.
His heart was pounding, and he quickly called out, "Old Feng, come quick, that big guy is here again!"
"What big guy?"
Feng Ye didn't react for a moment, and put down his work in confusion, quickly walking to Fang Yi's side.
"That gray whale from the day before yesterday."
"Huh? It's appeared again. Where is it?"
"there."
Fang Yi handed over the binoculars and pointed them at the distant horizon.
Feng Ye raised his binoculars and searched in the direction Fang Yi pointed for a while, and sure enough, he saw the familiar dark figure.
He was startled. Could this gray whale be deliberately provoking them?
After observing carefully for a while, he found that the gray whale was just floating quietly on the surface of the sea, without any sign of movement.
This is a bit strange.
While it's common for whales to passively bask in sunlight, I've never heard of them actively seeking out the sun.
Feng Ye frowned, his mind filled with doubts.
He handed the binoculars back to Fang Yi: "Take a close look, didn't that gray whale not move at all?"
Fang Yi took the binoculars, stared intently for a while, and confirmed, "It really hasn't moved, it's like a big rock. Could it be dead?"
"That's impossible. Given the size of a gray whale, once it dies, it will definitely sink to the bottom of the sea. It's impossible for it to still be floating on the surface."
"That's true, so what exactly is going on?"
"I don't know, I'll have Ah-Can take the boat over and check."
Feng Ye turned around and went to the wheelhouse, where he told A-Can, who was steering the boat, about the situation.
Ah-Can already knew about the encounter with the gray whale the day before yesterday, and now that he heard that the gray whale had reappeared, he was quite curious.
Without saying a word, he adjusted the course and drove over.
As the Donglai gradually approached, the gray whale remained motionless. The waves lapped against its body, but could not move it even an inch.
The others noticed this too, and gathered at the ship's side, craning their necks to look.
Ah-Can turned his gaze away from the gray whale in the distance, glanced at the various instruments, and found that the display on the fish finder was a little wrong.
The fish probe showed an abnormal echo in the area ahead, which was almost exactly where the gray whale was located.
Switching to high frequency and carefully observing the echo image, we discovered that it was actually a reef.
He felt a chill and quickly adjusted his course to avoid it.
Why did you suddenly change direction?
"The fish finder indicates there are reefs ahead; it would be dangerous to get any closer."
"What? A reef?"
Feng Ye stared wide-eyed in disbelief, leaning over to examine the fish probe screen, and sure enough, he saw that the echo image was unusually dense.
"It really is a hidden reef."
He murmured, "So, this gray whale is stranded on a reef? No wonder it's not moving."
Upon hearing this, Ah-Can retorted, "I think it must be dead, otherwise why wouldn't it struggle?"
"Maybe."
Feng Ye didn't argue with him and instructed, "Find a spot to moor the boat. I'll go check it out later. If it's just stranded and still alive, we'll tow it back into the sea."
"OK."
Ah-Can readily agreed, "Hehe, it would be great if it really survived. Then we would have saved another big guy. Just thinking about it makes me happy."
"We'll talk about it later. I'll go down and tell everyone to bring the net up."
As soon as Feng Ye went down, he immediately called everyone to the aft deck to set up the net.
We're about to stop the ship, and there are some reefs on the seabed. If the trawl net gets caught, we'll be in big trouble.
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