After 6:30 p.m., they cast another net.
This net yielded no surprises either, but the weight had increased, estimated to be around 6,000 jin (approximately 3,000 catties).
Just as they were preparing to lower the trawler net back into the water, Feng Jialing shouted from outside the wheelhouse, "Don't lower the net yet! The haul ship is here, it'll be here soon!"
"Uh... okay."
Upon hearing this, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up at the sea, gazing around.
There were no other ships in sight.
"Didn't they say the fish-collecting ship was coming? Why haven't we seen it?"
"It's probably still quite far away; we can't see it yet."
"It seems that we will have to wait a while before we can see the cargo ship collecting fresh seafood."
"Never mind that, let's get to work first, we'll talk about it when the ship arrives."
"Yes, getting to work is the priority; the deck is full of cargo waiting to be sorted."
Everyone left the stern, dragged over baskets, and squatted on the foredeck to begin sorting the catch they had just made.
Another half hour passed, and the sun had already set.
The last rays of the setting sun cast their final glow, turning the sea a golden hue.
The shimmering water is breathtakingly beautiful.
At this moment, a ship appeared where the sea and sky met, slowly sailing into everyone's sight as it approached from afar.
"A boat is coming; it must be a cargo ship collecting fresh seafood."
"It's most likely a cargo ship that collects fresh seafood."
"Here it comes, here it comes, the seafood collection boat is here."
"Yes, they've finally arrived. I contacted them at noon, but they've only just arrived now, it's been six or seven hours."
Hearing their discussion, Feng Ye smiled and said, "The sea is so vast, finding a ship isn't easy; it takes time."
It's also possible that other fishing boats contacted people to sell their catch, and then collected the goods along the way, starting from the nearest and moving further away.
Everyone nodded in agreement, agreeing with his point.
At that moment, Feng Jialing poked his head out of the wheelhouse: "The cargo ship is here. Get ready."
"knew."
Feng Ye immediately instructed, "Everyone, stop looking. First, tidy up the deck, then move the cargo out of the fish hold."
There was so much cargo in that net that it took up a lot of space when spread out, almost covering the entire foredeck.
And they didn't work for very long, and they didn't sort out much.
Space on the foredeck is limited, so the unsorted fish had to be moved to the side before the fish that had been taken out of the hold could be stacked.
As everyone busied themselves, the cargo ship drew closer and closer, until its outline and features became clearly discernible.
The shape of the fresh food collection ship is similar to that of a regular refrigerated transport ship, only the size is different.
Fresh fish collection vessels are relatively small in tonnage, with fish hold capacities ranging from tens to hundreds of tons.
Generally speaking, ocean-going cargo ships are larger and have a higher carrying capacity than deep-sea cargo ships.
However, these days, the type of boat used for collecting fresh seafood is not fixed; there are all sorts of them.
The cargo ship that is currently heading towards the Dong Sheng is not very big; it's even smaller than the Dong Sheng.
Feng Ye estimated that it was about 26 meters long.
The key issue is that it looks rather dilapidated, with rust covering the hull and many areas where the original color is no longer visible.
It looked as if it was about to fall apart and be swallowed by the sea at any moment.
Judging from its shape, it's not much different from a fishing boat, except it lacks fishing equipment.
Feng Ye strongly suspects that this is a fishing boat that has been expanded with fish holds and added with corresponding equipment, thus being converted into a fresh catch vessel.
Moreover, he strongly suspected that the cargo ship did not have the necessary permits.
Although he was unsure whether the boats collecting fresh seafood needed permits at this time.
But he knew that in the future, all ships engaged in sea-based acquisition of fresh produce would need to obtain permits.
Moreover, there are quite a few permits required, such as fishing licenses and transportation permits, none of which can be missing.
However, the regulations are probably not that strict right now.
The cargo ship slowly came to a stop next to the Dong Sheng, and the crew on board began to busy themselves, connecting the two ships together with ropes.
At this point, Feng Ye also confirmed that the ship was indeed only about 26 meters long, just as he had guessed.
Moreover, the two-story superstructure is located in the middle and rear of the ship, and there is a clear stern slide on the aft deck.
These are all typical characteristics of fishing boats.
There were no other fishing equipment on board; instead, there were refrigeration and oxygen generation equipment.
In addition to seawater tanks, freshwater tanks, frozen and refrigerated fish tanks, and storage rooms, etc.
However, one crane was retained to lift the acquired fish onto the ship.
The cargo collected by the fresh seafood collection boats is not all dead; some is alive, such as crabs, shellfish, sea cucumbers, and lobsters.
These all require oxygen-generating equipment to be kept in the seawater tank.
Relatively speaking, most crabs are difficult to raise, such as swimming crabs and blue crabs.
Even if kept in seawater, they can only survive for about a day without oxygenation equipment.
Even under certain extreme conditions, such as high temperature, low humidity, or bumps during transportation, they may die within 10 to 12 hours after leaving the water.
Therefore, they threw all the crabs they caught yesterday back into the sea, except for the ones they kept for themselves.
The fish were caught only after we confirmed that we had contacted a fish-collecting boat around noon today, and that's why we kept them to sell for money.
Dead crabs are worthless, and nobody wants them.
...
After the two ships were tied together, people from the cargo ship came over to inspect the goods on the Dong Sheng.
Feng Ye and A-Can followed along, asking about the prices of various goods.
Compared to the prices on land, the purchase price from the fish-collecting boats was indeed ridiculously low, with many goods discounted by half, and even the best-priced items were less than 70% of the original price.
For example, golden pomfret can be sold for one dollar and one or two dollars on the shore, while fresh fish can be bought for 65 cents.
The purchase price of small yellow croaker on the shore is 70 cents, while the boats that collect fresh fish only get 40 cents.
Other cheaper items, such as sardines, cost only 1 cent, an outrageously low price.
Even though he was mentally prepared and knew that the price for buying fresh seafood was very low, Feng Ye still couldn't help but secretly gasp in surprise.
That's a ridiculously deep discount!
Ah-Can shook his head and muttered under his breath, "This price is much lower than we expected."
"There's nothing we can do; those who buy fresh seafood boats also need to make money."
Moreover, the risks at sea are high, so they naturally want to keep prices low.
If we don't sell, we'll have to go ashore to sell ourselves, which is more costly and not worthwhile.
Feng Ye sighed, feeling quite helpless.
At this moment, he would much rather have his own fish-collecting boat, so he wouldn't be ripped off like this.
Ah-chan was aware of this, but he was just expressing his feelings.
He nodded: "That's true. We have no other choice but to sell it to them."
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