The crane continued to lift the fishing net, and the fish inside poured onto the deck.
Although it wasn't all mantis shrimp, it also contained other shrimp, fish, crabs, octopus, shellfish, and even some seaweed, dead branches and leaves, mud and sand.
However, mantis shrimp made up the majority, accounting for about 70-80%.
"Damn, it really is a net full of nine mantis shrimps, you guys really stepped in dog poop."
Xiao Guowen squatted down, picked up a mantis shrimp, peeled it, and popped it into his mouth. "Mmm, so fresh and sweet!"
"I'll try some too."
"I'll go first."
Everyone followed suit, reaching out to grab the mantis shrimp and taste them.
Ah-Can didn't even bother peeling the shell; he just tossed it into his mouth and chewed, his face full of satisfaction: "This is the real taste of the sea!"
The key to enjoying seafood is its freshness; preserving its original flavor best reflects this.
Moreover, it's freshly caught and still alive, so taking a bite right away is the most delicious way to enjoy it.
For a moment, the deck was filled with everyone's exclamations of admiration.
"The quality of these mantis shrimp is truly exceptional, they are absolutely delicious."
"This tastes amazing, so delicious."
"I ate breakfast too early and lunch is late today, so I'll fill my stomach now so I won't be hungry on the way back."
"I think we shouldn't sell this. It would be very impressive to use it for a lunchtime event. It's also very easy to make; just blanch it."
Feng Ye turned to look at A-Can, who was enjoying his meal.
"Don't look at me, go ask Brother Xuan, I have no objection."
Ah-chan quickly waved his hand, still chewing on mantis shrimp, and mumbled something indistinctly.
Feng Xuan nodded and smiled, "Since everyone likes it so much, let's save it for lunchtime."
"OK."
Feng Ye didn't make a fuss, nor did he mention giving them any extra money.
It wasn't that he was stingy, but he knew they wouldn't accept the money anyway, so there was no need to go through all that formality.
He put the freshly peeled shrimp in his mouth and then told them to get to work.
"Don't just eat, hurry up and sort them."
Upon hearing this, everyone immediately went to get baskets and buckets and began sorting the food, but they didn't forget to eat, peeling off a piece and throwing it into their mouths every now and then.
"Alas, it's a pity that it wasn't dragged out long enough. If it had been dragged out a little longer, the harvest would probably have been even better."
Feng Xuan sighed and said, "Should we set the trawl net down and then haul it in again on the way back?"
Looking at this pile of mantis shrimp, he felt a little unsatisfied.
This haul was already quite substantial, but if we could haul in another net, we might catch even more.
Feng Ye, however, immediately rejected the idea.
"No, look at the time. It will take almost an hour to get back to the shipyard, and another hour to drive home, plus a delay at the shipyard. If we tow it back while driving, we won't have enough time."
Trawlers operate at a very slow speed, only three to five knots.
A journey that normally takes one hour can take four or five hours to complete during operations.
"Then let's go back first."
Feng Xuan nodded. "If the weather is good in the next few days, shall we take the boat out to sea?"
"Oh, you're going out to sea again? The New Year is just around the corner."
Xiao Guowen said with some surprise.
"Just don't stay for too long, just stay for four or five days and then come back."
Feng Xuan said with a smile, "Seafood prices are highest before the New Year, so let's also get some fish for the holiday."
"Yes, yes, I agree."
Ah-Can excitedly raised his hand, "It's not good to keep this new boat sitting here all the time. It's so tempting to look at it. We should take it out to sea again before the New Year."
Feng Ye hadn't originally intended to do this; he had planned to take a good rest until the New Year. But after hearing what his older brother and A-Can said, he became somewhat tempted.
“Okay, if the weather is good and the waves aren’t too big, let’s go out for a bit.”
Ye Chenliang said with some regret, "It's a pity that I have to go back in a few days and can't go out to sea with you."
"It's okay, go back and spend time with your family. We won't miss you."
Ah-Can continued with a grin, "Aren't there two free laborers here?"
Xiao Guowen stared wide-eyed: "Damn, you guys actually want to get something for free."
Ah-Can chuckled: "Don't put it so harshly. We're brothers, aren't we? When we're eating and drinking, I think of you two brothers. Of course, I'll think of you when I'm working."
Feng Ye nodded in agreement: "That's right. The five of us will go out then. We won't be doing it to make a lot of money. We'll just treat it as a relaxing trip to sea and maybe catch some seafood for the New Year."
"That's more like it."
Xiao Guowen and Xiao Guowu exchanged a glance, then grinned and said, "Sure, we're just idling at home anyway, so we'll go out to sea with you guys sometime."
Sorting is a time-consuming task, but fortunately, the majority of today's catch consists of mantis shrimp, which is relatively easy to sort.
They can pick out the miscellaneous fish and shrimp, excluding mantis shrimp, and keep the valuable ones in the basket, while throwing the unwanted ones back into the sea.
Then the rest are all mantis shrimp, so there's no need to pick them one by one; you can just scoop them into the basket by the handful.
There were so many mantis shrimps; they brought out 20 baskets, and they almost filled them all.
There were sixteen baskets in total, weighing about 800 kilograms, and they were all lined up on the deck.
It's cold now, and we'll be docked soon, so there's no need to go through the trouble of moving them into the fish hold.
While they were sorting the boat, the experienced helmsman in the wheelhouse was also navigating back.
The journey was smooth and uneventful, and nothing unusual happened.
Apart from the occasional seagull flying by, there were almost no other ships in sight on the entire sea.
Only when you get close to the shore can you see many small wooden boats in operation.
Such a large ship sailing on the sea, and being a brand new ship that can be easily spotted, attracted a lot of attention, drawing curious glances from the fishermen on the small wooden boats.
"We're back, we'll be docked soon..."
As the outline of the shipyard standing on the coast gradually came into view, Feng Ye raised his wrist to check his watch.
It was just past 11 a.m., and there were still two hours until 1 p.m., which was plenty of time to make it back.
The return journey takes significantly less time than the departure journey, since the return trip involves full-speed navigation, and the operation doesn't involve constantly moving outwards.
Feng Xuan was consciously controlling the course, moving back and forth within a certain range to avoid going too far.
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