Just as Feng Ye took out his diving gear and was about to put it on, the net-raising speed suddenly returned to normal.
Gone is the feeling of being pulled like an ox pulling a heavy cart; it's as if a heavy burden has been lifted, and everything feels lighter.
Feng Ye and A-Can looked at each other, completely bewildered.
If it hadn't happened right under their noses, they might have even wondered if they were hallucinating.
What's going on?
"Who knows?"
Ah-Can had a bad feeling: "Could it be that the trawling net is finished?"
Feng Ye's heart skipped a beat, but he forced himself to remain calm and said, "Don't guess wildly, let's see first."
The two men stared intently at the net-setting machine, but after a short while, the speed slowed down again.
"this……"
Both of them were completely bewildered.
It's moving fast one minute and slow the next; it doesn't look like it's snagged on the bottom, nor does it look like it's dragging on something heavy.
"Could it be that the network server is broken?"
Ah-chan proposed a new possibility.
"That's impossible. If the network generator is broken, it should be slow or stop altogether."
Feng Ye thought for a moment, then continued, "The current situation seems more like the trawl net encountered something unstable underwater."
"Something unstable? What could cause this?"
Ah-chan frowned.
"How would I know? I'll just go down and see for myself."
As Feng Ye spoke, he put on his diving gear.
A bold guess suddenly popped into Ah Can's mind: "Brother Ye, do you think it might be that whale shark causing trouble?"
Feng Ye stopped what he was doing, looked up at A-Can, and a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes: "Whale shark?"
"yes."
Ah-Can explained in a serious tone, "Look, there are fish in the net. If they get sucked into the net, it will increase the load and slow down the net-lifting machine; if they let go, the speed will return to normal..."
"Your idea is quite far-fetched, but it's actually possible."
Feng Ye nodded, feeling that A-Can's guess was not entirely unreasonable.
Whale sharks are enormous, with incredible weight and huge mouths.
If it is indeed sucking up small fish in the net, it can indeed affect the net-hauling machine.
"I'll dive down and take a look."
"Okay, be careful."
"I know I need to be careful, you don't have to be so nagging every time."
Feng Ye put on his diving gear, took a deep breath, and jumped into the sea.
The coolness of the seawater instantly brought him a sense of comfort.
He didn't dive into the water immediately, but instead swam a distance following the trail of the trawl net.
He estimated that he had reached the net bag before diving into the water.
As soon as he submerged, he carefully observed his surroundings.
He had only descended a few meters when he spotted a huge creature near the edge of the net.
What else could it be but a whale shark?
Just as Ah-chan guessed, it really was a whale shark causing trouble.
The whale shark was tightly gripping the trawl net with its huge mouth, constantly sucking the fish in it, eating with great relish.
Having dealt with it a few times, Feng Ye had nothing to fear and swam directly to its head.
The whale shark seemed a little embarrassed about being caught stealing food and loosened its grip.
It looked at Feng Ye with its innocent big eyes, as if to say, "I was just hungry and couldn't resist."
Feng Ye shook his head helplessly. He knew that the whale shark was not deliberately causing trouble; it was just attracted by the food.
Hunting is simply its instinct.
The mesh size of the trawl net is quite large.
Although theoretically, larger mesh sizes are less likely to catch fish and shrimp smaller than the mesh size.
However, in actual fishing, due to various factors, fish and shrimp smaller than the mesh size are inevitably caught in every net.
This gives whale sharks an opportunity to forcefully suck out small fish and shrimp through the mesh of the net.
Of course, the number of fish and shrimp that can be sucked out is limited; most of them will be blocked by larger fish and shrimp.
However, that's under normal circumstances.
Their network was acting strangely; for some reason, it had a small hole in it.
Normal trawls don't have much of a problem; the layers of fish and shrimp can block the opening.
But once the whale shark sucked it in, it couldn't take it anymore; fish and shrimp all went into its mouth with a "whoosh".
Feng Ye only noticed the opening after the whale shark loosened its grip.
That guy is damn smart.
They actually discovered such a vulnerability and even exploited it.
Whale sharks are said to be quite intelligent, with some saying they are equivalent to a seven-year-old child, while others say they are only equivalent to a three- or four-year-old child.
Luckily, I went down to check, otherwise, when the net was pulled up, I wouldn't know why there were only a few larger fish left.
The whale shark's net bag was almost empty, and judging by its appearance, it wouldn't stop until it had eaten everything.
Sure enough, right in front of Feng Ye, it opened its mouth wide again and sucked hard onto the net bag, and the fish and shrimp meat inside visibly decreased.
"Damn, this whole job was for nothing."
Feng Ye couldn't help but give a wry smile.
HeartacheJPG.
The culprit has been found; he floated up by swinging his flippers.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Besides, even if it doesn't surface, there's no point in just staying here and watching; he can't do anything about this big, uncouth creature.
When Ah-Can saw him surface, he immediately asked, "What's going on down there? Did the trawl net snag something?"
"Give me a hand."
Feng Ye was pulled onto the boat by A-Can. He took off his breathing mask, wiped the seawater off his face, and said with a rather helpless expression:
"You were right, your jinx! It really was that whale shark causing trouble, stealing fish from the net."
"Huh? It really is a whale shark!"
Ah-chan was stunned.
"Didn't you guess it?"
"I did have such a guess, but it was just a sudden thought that popped into my head. I never thought it would actually be the culprit."
Ah-Can scratched his head. "So what do we do now?"
"What else can we do but make do with it?"
Feng Ye shrugged helplessly. "Anyway, there's nothing we can do to stop it. We can only wait until it finishes eating all the food in the net before we can pull it up."
"Damn, this guy is such an ingrate, I've fed him so many herrings for nothing..."
Ah-chan grumbled and complained, feeling very dissatisfied with the whale shark's act of stealing food.
Feng Ye found it amusing: "Why are you arguing with a fish? What good are all the insults you can hurl at it? Can it understand you or what?"
"That's true, it can't understand it anyway."
Ah-Can sighed, "Then I'll go turn off the power grid?"
"Turn it off, it'll save some diesel. Once it's finished eating, just manually pull the net up; an empty net doesn't take much effort."
Ah-Can nodded, turned around and walked towards the network setup machine, then turned it off.
The roar of the diesel engine gradually faded away, and the sea returned to calm, with only the sound of waves gently lapping against the hull.
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