Chapter 1573: Return a Boat

Taking advantage of the fishing boat's active work period, when he was relatively free, Ye Yaodong called for several more boats.

He explained to them that once this haul was brought up, everyone should gather together first, reorganize the workers from the fresh-fish transport boat and Boat No. 5, and temporarily assign them to other vessels.

Upon returning, he would inform his father to reallocate personnel to make up the numbers.

Emergencies naturally required emergency handling; for now, only temporary arrangements could be made to solve the immediate shortage of manpower.

The other boats had no objections; they were only too eager to have more hands, otherwise they couldn't keep up.

The people on those two boats were actually quite curious about how much catch had been gathered that so many hands were still insufficient.

On this first deep-sea fishing trip, besides fear of the unknown waters, everyone also harbored a faint expectation in their hearts, wanting to see what kind of catch they could pull up.

After notifying everyone, Ye Yaodong let the several boats prepare mentally, and the fresh-fish transport boat and Boat No. 5 also had to notify their crew in advance about what to do.

Two hours remained before this haul could be pulled in; he estimated that by the time the net was raised, the sun would be setting.

Old Xiao said, "Once we return, you'll have to ask your father to assign more people; we don't know if temporary arrangements can be made in time..."

"I'll try my best. I'll write a letter in a moment; when the fresh-fish transport boat returns in a few days, I'll have my father mail it."

"Will writing a letter help?"

"Let's try; what else can we do? For now, we can only try our best to have everyone work a bit harder."

He could only make a last-minute effort, write a letter for his father to send to Lin Guang, urging him to arrange more people as soon as possible.

With no way to make phone calls now, writing a letter was the only option; otherwise, by the time he returned, it would be two months later, which would be even more delayed.

For the next trip, he could only ask his father to send as many people as possible, including Ah Guang and little Ah Zheng.

Count them one by one; anyway, they had all hired extra people, so whether they themselves went on board or not mattered little; they could just be brought over to help him.

He could also check with the processing factory to see if a few retired soldiers could be temporarily borrowed to fill the numbers; if they were short-staffed there, they could recruit temporarily.

He could only think of solutions along these lines; who could have expected a single haul to double the catch?

Perhaps it was because they were near a current, but the shortage of manpower was indeed a fact; changing locations might not necessarily prevent the net from bursting.

Current technology was not that advanced; only through the combination of a slide and a fish-suction pump could the transfer be completed in 35 minutes; in the future, sorting lines could be equipped with AI recognition to save 40% of labor.

The future would be high-tech; for now, it could only be purely manual labor.

His own boat was considered efficient, equipped with the slide and fish-suction pump combination.

Old Xiao spoke quietly again, "That fishing net being lost, I wonder if it happened at just the right time..."

"Hehe, no other meaning; I just thought it was perfect timing since we were short on hands..."

After speaking, Old Xiao felt a bit embarrassed and added a smile in his direction.

Ye Yaodong didn't mind. "One could only say it was a lucky accident."

"Boat No. 5 becoming available was also perfectly timed; otherwise, manpower would be insufficient again, the round-trip time to transport the catch back would be too long, and the fresh-fish transport boat couldn't handle so much cargo."

"Mm."

"It's just a pity for that fishing net; several thousand yuan just went down the drain, sunk into the sea. That was a new net; such a pity."

"Nothing to pity; it's just a small loss. At sea, things can't always go smoothly; having been safe and sound these past few years is already very good."

Modern fishing boats are equipped with net-loss beacons to facilitate later recovery; this era has none, but it's not a big problem; it's just a small sum of money.

On this point, he was quite open-minded; as long as there were no casualties, everything else was a minor matter.

Losses can always be earned back.

However, the fresh-fish transport boat being insufficient was indeed a long-term problem.

He planned to go to Mogadishu after docking to urge them, asking the Jiangnan Shipyard to deliver his thousand-ton fishing boat as soon as possible; besides, he also wanted to order two more, one of which must be built as a thousand-ton fresh-fish transport boat.

As for the first thousand-ton fishing boat, he could only temporarily use it as a fresh-fish transport boat to carry cargo; after all, this boat had the greatest Load-bearing capacity and the largest capacity, only then could it hold the cargo from their several boats.

As for modifications... that was not feasible; modifying it close to the delivery date would take far too long and cost even more money; it was better to urge immediate delivery and temporarily use it as a fresh-fish transport boat, which was preferable.

Old Xiao nodded in agreement. "Yes, Safety is most important."

"I'll leave this place under your watch." Ye Yaodong picked up the telescope and walked out, intending to check the other fishing boats.

When the sun tilted west, just before Luoshan, he checked the time, found it was about right, and then shouted to notify everyone to prepare to haul in the net.

The winch began to rumble, and the steel cable retracted inch by inch.

Towing one net took more than three hours from start to finish; preliminary preparations also required time; the three hours referred only to the time the fishing net operated underwater.

Hauling the fishing net up also took more than half an hour.

Then workers had to use long poles with hooks to catch the fish-bag towing rings, letting the fish cargo fall into the bottom of the fish bag; after one bag was hoisted up, the action would be repeated continuously to keep hoisting.

This process also took considerable time; in the morning, it took over an hour just to hoist all the cargo up.

After all the cargo was hoisted up, the final step was to retrieve and organize the net.

Although towing one net operated underwater for three hours, the total time from start to finish amounted to five or six hours for one haul; this was already tight.

Sometimes, if coordination wasn't perfect or a small incident occurred, it would take even longer than this.

After he began hauling in the net, the other several fishing boats also started moving one by one.

The sea surface churned with waves; as the fishing net slowly floated to the surface, the fish inside moved more violently, and the splashes became larger.

However, the splashes from this haul were somewhat unique; they were black.

Old Xiao happily exclaimed, "It's all cuttlefish; even the waves were dyed black by the ink, and it hasn't dispersed yet."

"This indicates there are many cuttlefish in this haul; the waves were sprayed black by the ink, so it's hard to see how many fish are inside. However, looking at the size of the splashes, there should be quite a few fish as well."

"These cuttlefish are valuable; although they are small, their price is no worse than that of mackerel."

"When the time comes, keep some to be dried at the processing factory; we should also prepare more varieties; this is high-class and sells well."

It also belonged to mid-to-high-end seafood; even as a gift for last year's festival, it would be presentable.

The factory had also started sales; at that time, let the sales team visit various units, and it could all be arranged into the festival gift procurement list.

He had absorbed so many retired soldiers for the army; the army should also provide some benefits for him; the eastern and western troops of the factory should also help absorb them.

"Produce and sell yourself; earn all the money yourself."

"The investment is huge, brother. Just the machinery in the factory must have cost a fortune, not to mention my boats, labor, fuel, and all the other expenses."

"Hehe, earn more, spend more; earn less, spend less. Unlike us, who earn but don't spend, just hoard it!"

"I'm going down to take a look and give some instructions."

"Okay."

The patch of seawater dyed black by the ink remained murky for a long time, staying ink-black, making it impossible to see how much cargo there was; they could only wait for it to be hoisted.

The workers chattered and debated among themselves.

"First time seeing the seawater this black..."

"Before, it would just turn black for a moment and then get washed away; this net must have caught a lot of cuttlefish."

"This haul must be worth a fortune..."

"Don't know if it's worth a fortune, but it's definitely less trouble. It's all cuttlefish, so there's hardly any sorting needed; just pick out the miscellaneous stuff, and that goes quickly too."

"Right, right, right..."

"Oh my, the last haul had too much cargo; my hands went numb. We just finished and rested for a bit, and here it comes again."

"My hand holding the knife is still shaking..."

"Cargo's coming, cargo's coming, get ready to work..."

Ye Yaodong watched as a bundle of cargo was hoisted up, and the workers quickly took their positions, waiting.

He reassured everyone: "Once this net is hauled in, we can rest. Then we'll head straight to the destination, get a good rest tonight, and probably won't start casting the net until tomorrow night."

"I've already made arrangements. Before we cast the net tomorrow night, I'll reassign the workers from the fresh catch boat and Boat No. 5 to add manpower to a few boats and lighten everyone's load."

"Then, once the fresh catch boat returns, I'll have my father send over more people. Everyone just hold on for now."

Everyone agreed.

"Okay, we don't mind working hard; the only worry is not finishing in time and wasting all that good cargo."

"Yes, just worried about not finishing in time. This cargo is all money; we can't waste it."

"As long as Brother Dong has a plan, we're all hoping for a bountiful harvest and a warehouse full of fish. Seeing so much cargo dumped back earlier was heartbreaking; let's not waste the good stuff too."

"Yes, yes."

Ye Yaodong smiled and said, "Mm, don't worry. Just hold on for a few days; once the extra hands arrive, things will improve."

At that moment, a large, pitch-black bundle of cuttlefish was lowered down and conveyed to the sorting table by the conveyor belt, and everyone immediately sprang into action.

"It really is all cuttlefish..."

"Less trouble; not many small fish..."

"No need to sort by size either..."

It was the Fishing season for cuttlefish; these were basically the same species, all roughly the same size, mostly in their spawning period with bulging bellies full of roe.

Sorting wasn't much of a hassle; a quick scoop made a pile. They just needed to pick out the impurities and fish inside, saving at least 70% of the time.

Ye Yaodong watched as they each only made a couple of scoops, yet their hands, sleeves, chests, and faces were already pitch-black, and they were laughing at each other.

Fortunately, they were all wearing nylon sailor suits; a rinse with water made them clean again.

He smiled and said, "Pick out some nice ones; we'll boil a pot for dinner tonight. Pick them now, I'll have someone cook them, and we can eat right after sorting is done."

"Here, these... done... about enough..."

A worker gave a quick scoop, and a pile of cuttlefish clattered into the basket. He even gave it two shakes, checking the quantity seemed right before handing it to Ye Yaodong.

Just from those two shakes, the basket was dyed pitch-black too; who knew where so much ink came from.

He handed it to the chef to rinse first and start cooking.

Being on a boat has this advantage: you take whatever you want to eat, and it's the freshest.

The crane kept hoisting non-stop; every bundle of cargo was pitch-black. Only when they landed could other fish and shrimp be seen, and they were basically dyed black too.

All this cargo had to be rinsed before going into the cold storage; the cuttlefish were no exception.

They couldn't just send pitch-black cargo straight into the cold storage; how would they sell it? They had to rinse it at least once before sending it in to freeze.

If black juice leaked out in the meantime, it didn't matter; wanting absolutely no ink at all was impossible with so much cargo.

After more than an hour, all the cargo was hoisted up and waiting to be sorted.

He kept watching and directing; this haul was indeed as expected, with sixty percent cuttlefish, and the rest being miscellaneous small fish, other seafood, or impurities.

This ratio was already very high, all thanks to this huge school of cuttlefish; the numbers were enormous.

His several boats had all headed straight for this massive school of cuttlefish and still caught so much; it showed there must be millions of them down there, and they had scooped them up right in the act.

He had just checked the cold storage; the previous batch, once sorted, totaled around 100,000 jin. The rest was processed and dumped back into the sea for sustainable development.

The quantity caught this time didn't match the total of the previous haul, but who could complain when this net had so many cuttlefish, higher value, and fewer small fish?

In terms of value, this haul was superior and worth more.

The key was that the workers found sorting much easier; everyone was in high spirits, and once this haul was done, they could eat and rest.

"This haul is impressive too; twenty-one bundles came up, that's another 100,000 jin."

"A bit less than the last haul..."

"After all, we changed locations; the last haul was right in the center of the current."

"This haul isn't necessarily worse than the last; there are so many cuttlefish, it's valuable."

"Yes, it's all cuttlefish with few small fish. We dumped tens of thousands of jin of small fish back into the sea last time; it broke my heart, catching so much for nothing."

"This haul was also because we spotted a school of cuttlefish and headed straight for it."

"This huge school of cuttlefish must be heading to the near-shore waters to spawn; we just happened to bump into them before they scattered."

Yes, such a massive school of fish migrating toward the near-shore waters would only gradually scatter along the way, then slowly seek things to attach to for spawning; the numbers would gradually dilute, yet still form a huge school.

Ye Yaodong estimated there were about 50,000 to 60,000 jin of cuttlefish; his haul could easily sell for twenty or thirty thousand, and with the other scraps, another thousand or so.

He made a huge profit, equivalent to two or three hauls in the fishing grounds; it was worth it. The fishing grounds mainly had not-so-valuable or cheap seafood, and the quantities differed too.

Indeed, the resources here are abundant; if he were to catch squid in the near seas, how many nets would he have to haul to earn that much?

Back home, he had struggled for ages, using tree branches as egg-laying devices, yet after an entire fishing season of a whole month, he could only sell a few thousand.

The difference is huge; now, with just one net, he earns more than he did back home during an entire fishing season, equivalent to sweeping the whole pot clean.

Judging the catch from these two nets in his mind, it would probably sell for 30,000; a great harvest, truly a warehouse full of fish, he has made a profit, and it is because he encountered a large, valuable school of fish.

He was somewhat excited. "Everyone has worked hard; once sorting is done, you can rest."

Everyone quickly replied politely, "Not hard, not hard, it is our duty..."

Ye Yaodong returned to the cockpit in high spirits, and Old Xiao was also congratulating him.

"This net haul dragged up another 21 bags, and most of them are valuable squid; we have made money again."

"It is just right for me to recover my health; the previous batch of fishing nets lost one net, and since we could not drag the nets, the loss was huge."

"The other fishing boats just reported as well; basically, they are all around 20 bags, and half of what is in the fishing nets is squid; this school of fish is truly large."

"Mm, we have arrived at the peak of the fishing season; such a huge wave is all heading to the near seas to spawn."

Old Xiao thought for a moment and asked, "Now that the cargo has been collected, shall we head directly to the next destination? When do you plan to allocate personnel?"

Ye Yaodong tapped his forehead, thinking, "Let me think about it."

Combined, the two nets collected around 170,000 to 180,000 jin of cargo; the other three boats were probably around 160,000 to 170,000 jin as well.

If all were loaded onto the fresh-fish carrier or the No. 5 boat, it would be close to the critical point; the best method is to wait until sorting is finished, gather the boats together, move all the cargo onto the fresh-fish carrier, and then send a boat back immediately.

After all, the return journey takes a day or two, and coming back then would take another two or three days; those two boats dedicated to receiving cargo must be staggered to avoid delays in transport.

It is just that we have not yet reached the destination...

"Do you want the fishing boats to return with the cargo now, or wait until we reach the destination before having the fishing boats return?"

"Yes, I am pondering it, but I think it is better to have the fishing boats return now; otherwise, I fear the round-trip connection will not match up, and transport will be untimely. Moreover, returning early allows for earlier arrangement of manpower to come over, which can also give my father an extra day."

Old Xiao nodded. "Yes, your concerns are correct."

"You think so too, right?"

"Yes, it must be arranged this way; arranging personnel on your father's side also takes time, and the fishing boats cannot depart immediately after unloading the cargo."

"Mm, then notify everyone below; once the cargo is sorted well, report it, then gather the boats together, transfer the cargo, and arrange the personnel at the same time."

"Alright, then I will notify the other boats now."

Ye Yaodong thought that the sun was also setting; once sorting was finished, it would be dark.

At night, fishing boats should not travel too fast; this time is just right for transport, so there is no fear of delaying too much.

After Old Xiao finished notifying, he came over and asked, "Then which boat do you plan to send back first?"

"The No. 5 boat; after all, this boat cannot carry as much as the fresh-fish carrier, so let this boat return with the cargo first."

"Alright, then I will go notify as well."

After making the decision, he pondered it back and forth in his mind, feeling that theoretically there should not be any major problems.

However, if something unexpected happens at the time, it is hard to say; meet a soldier with a general, meet water with earth.

Ye Yaodong also went to notify the workers on the boat of the result just discussed; the freshly sorted cargo need not be rushed into storage.

Carrying it in now only to carry it out again later; it is just an hour or so, and such a short time will not make it any less fresh.

The sky gradually darkened; after the workers finished their work, they went to eat first, while he went up to the cockpit to contact the other boats.

"Report your sorting progress."

"The No. 2 boat estimates another half hour..."

"The No. 3 boat has finished sorting..."

"The No. 4 boat estimates about another half hour."

Ye Yaodong said, "The No. 5 boat stops and remains stationary; using the No. 5 boat as the center, all other fishing boats move closer to the No. 5 boat; those who have finished sorting will first transport cargo to the No. 5 fishing boat."

"Received."

?? Can't finish writing, too sleepy, let's leave it at that for now