Chapter 1575: Arriving at the target fishing grounds

After finishing breakfast, Ye Yaodong used his binoculars to scan the nearby sea surface for a while. Then, he checked the radar display and the nautical chart. Feeling that following the originally planned route shouldn't be a problem, he finally went to get some sleep.

His rest cabin was on the deck level of the wheelhouse, separated from the bridge by only a soundproof iron door, making it convenient to enter and exit at any time.

Before he came aboard, this space was used by the two workers on rotation, including Old Xiao, to rest. However, after he took command of the ship and acted as captain, they had to move to the workers' rest cabin below.

The workers' rest cabin had a much worse environment; it was a large communal sleeping area, more cramped with so many people. Still, at least his cabin was on a new ship, so it was better than an old one regardless.

Inside the small space, there was a small nautical chart table used for temporary route planning at night. Underneath it was a safe for storing ship documents and cash. It was also stocked with a medicine kit, containing things like quick-acting heart-saving pills and simple cold medicine.

He placed the enamel mug he had used for strong tea last night onto the table and lay down on the small bed. Although he could still hear the roar of the main engine, it was separated by several layers of iron plating, so the noise was at least a bit lower than in the crew cabin.

But no matter how much it was reduced, the low-frequency vibration of the main engine still caused the enamel mug on the table to vibrate slightly.

He had already been tired enough to close his eyes, but upon hearing the enamel mug vibrate and fall to the floor, he had no choice but to get back up, pick it up, and casually place it in a corner on the floor.

Now he could finally sleep in peace.

He was half-asleep and half-awake, his sleep fragmented. By the time he was fully awake, it was already two or three in the afternoon.

He checked the time on his watch, and even the last bit of fogginess in his brain cleared up.

He opened the cabin door, and the movement was transmitted to the man in the bridge.

"You're awake, Brother Dong."

"Yeah. Did anything happen while I was sleeping, or were there any special situations?"

"Nothing like that. We just encountered several schools of fish along the way, and everyone was very tempted, discussing whether to cast the nets. I just said you were resting, and before you rested, you gave instructions to head straight to the destination without stopping in between, and to ignore any schools of fish we encountered to avoid any accidents."

Ye Yaodong nodded. "Good. The sea is full of dangerous restricted areas, and there are plenty of schools of fish. If we miss one wave, there will naturally be another. Safety first. How much longer until we reach the destination?"

"Probably tomorrow morning. We were fishing all day yesterday, and moving the cargo last night took seven or eight hours, which is equivalent to wasting an entire extra day. Otherwise, our speed is actually quite fast. If we hadn't stopped in the middle, we might have been able to arrive in two days and two nights."

"That's not bad. I had expected three days. If we hadn't stopped in the middle, we could have arrived in 48 hours."

"Right."

Ye Yaodong planned to brush his teeth and eat something; as for washing his face, he'd skip it. Freshwater resources on the ship were scarce, so he had to save where he could.

During the time the workers weren't working, they basically stayed in the ship's hold to rest, replenishing their energy on time and checking and maintaining equipment on a rotating schedule.

Everyone didn't have a fixed time for meals; they could eat whenever they were hungry.

When he was eating, there was no one else around. He sat there with his legs crossed, the soup spoon in his hand almost as big as the mouth of his bowl.

When drinking soup on a ship, the spoon must be large; otherwise, with the ship rocking back and forth, the soup would all spill before it reached his mouth.

With a larger spoon, at least half would remain by the time it reached his mouth.

The food eaten on the ship was basically simple steamed, blanched, or fish soup dishes. There was meat, but it was troublesome; once it got cold, it was just a layer of oil.

Since everyone had lived by the sea for a long time, their tastes were generally quite light, and they could adapt well. They basically ate the same way on shore.

After Ye Yaodong forced down a few bites to fill his stomach, since he was idle anyway, he continued to look out with his binoculars, using the radar to monitor the surrounding waters to ensure safe navigation.

Suddenly, the seawater on the side of the ship surged as if boiling. A school of fish with shimmering silver light swept past like a storm. The school was so dense it almost obscured the seawater. Under the sunlight, the surrounding waters seemed to be plated with a layer of flowing silver foil.

Chen Shi was calling him at this time, "Brother Dong, there's a school of fish surfacing on the surface layer..."

Before he could finish speaking, the school of fish suddenly scattered, and several dark blue dorsal fins broke through the water. They were dolphins.

They were like a well-trained army, driving the school of fish, leaping out of the water from time to time, splashing crystal-clear water.

"I see them."

"We detected the school of fish a long time ago, but you said not to worry about it, so we didn't. I didn't expect them to surface."

"Yeah, they should be mackerel. They aren't worth much. Even if we caught a net full, we'd have to dump them back."

He looked through the binoculars and saw seabirds diving down to prey; the fish in their claws were mackerel.

You really couldn't say otherwise; looking across the expanse, it was all shimmering silver scales. The quantity looked quite large, and he estimated it was likely those dolphins driving the school of fish to feed.

If it were near the coast, they could try to drag them back to dry; they would still have some value, and with a bit of labor, they could be sold for money. But here, forget it; it wouldn't even cover the fuel costs, and catching them would take up space and waste even more time.

"Ah, is that so? That's good... What a pity, such a large school of fish, and they're actually worthless..."

Ye Yaodong didn't speak, continuing to watch the distance with his binoculars, watching the dolphins prey on the mackerel school. The quantity he saw was indeed quite large.

He thought for a moment, then went to get his camera to take a picture.

Chen Shi didn't know if he wanted to say enough to make up for the twenty-plus years he had stuttered. Now he felt incredibly talkative, constantly talking to him, talking endlessly.

"We've dumped too much cargo back into the sea. If this were near the shore, dragging it back to dry, the whole village could eat for years..."

"Even if we didn't take it to dry, if we brought it back for free, everyone would definitely scramble for it..."

"... Brother Dong, it's too much of a pity to dump that cargo into the sea. If we could transport it back, that would be good too. Would you consider setting up a fish sauce factory here?"

He said five or six sentences, and Ye Yaodong might only reply with one.

"No need. People here don't eat this; only the Min and Yue regions eat it. Setting this up isn't as good as expanding the processing plant."

However, Chen Shi did remind him. The distance from this location to Zhoushan is not much different from the distance to his home, and it might even be closer to his home.

After the thousand-ton fishing boat is delivered, perhaps they can arrange for the fresh-fish collection boats to do it in batches. Part of the cargo can be transported back to Zhoushan, and another part of the cargo can take a batch of miscellaneous fish along the way and transport it back to the city near his home.

As for the cargo, it can be handed over to Acai for acquisition, letting him solve the sales channels.

When he left the city, he handed over the factory connections he had previously established to Acai, which was equivalent to paving a road for this brat.

Now it should be time for this brat to repay him!

Having him take all his cargo is also equivalent to a win-win situation. It can also put some pressure on Acai, and turning it into motivation can also expand the scale a bit.

And his current production volume is indeed too large. The factory hasn't expanded on a large scale, and production and processing are limited, so he has to constantly look for outside help to handle the cargo.

Before coming out on this trip, he had already tried his best to establish connections, and the sales staff had all been arranged. It's just that he didn't know if his father and Chen Jianxing could handle it well.

The letter written to Lin Guangyuan also mentioned asking him to ask the leaders if the military could purchase his cargo.

If his father couldn't handle it, the next time the fishing boat came out and sent a message, he might have to make a trip himself to go back and handle it.

Communication not being developed is just this troublesome. Otherwise, if he could have mobile phone contact, it would save a lot of trouble.

After this fishing trip is successfully completed and he returns, he estimates that the things waiting for him to handle will be as high as a small mountain.

It's not just ordering fishing boats, but also expanding the processing plant. Before leaving, he had already asked Manager Qi to apply to the government to expand the construction site area, and he didn't know if there was a result yet.

Then he also had to handle the matter of connecting with the military to receive demobilized soldiers, and the path with Acai also had to be opened up.

These things one by one are not easy matters, nor can they be solved all at once. They are all complex and time-consuming.

Just as they were talking, a low vibration came from the bottom of the ship, as if some behemoth was floating up from the deep sea.

"Brother Dong! Look at the starboard side!" Chen Shi's voice trembled.

Ye Yaodong turned his head to look, only to see a huge black shadow slowly floating to the sea surface. The black back bulged like a small mountain, and immediately after, two water columns shot into the sky, a full seven or eight meters high.

"A whale!"

He calmly uttered two words.

Chen Shi exclaimed, "Another big whale."

The two workers on rotation on the deck also exclaimed, shouting "Wow."

Ye Yaodong looked at the two water columns shooting into the sky and said again, "It's a right whale."

The right whale's unique V-shaped blowhole was fully open, and the water mist sprayed out refracted a mini rainbow in the sunlight. The salty, fishy whale breath even splashed onto the ship's side a hundred meters away.

The roar of the whale breathing was like the exhaust of a steam locomotive, and even through the steel plating, it could make one's chest feel numb.

"So big... the black one is so big..."

Chen Shi looked on in amazement, "The sound is so loud, just like a train. This size is no less than a ship..."

"Brother Dong, how did you recognize it just by it spraying water? It clearly only revealed half its body, and it sprayed quite high..."

"I only know it's a whale, and it's only because it sprays water. You recognized it at a glance; that's amazing."

The right whale is also a type of whale. Their body shape is like a hammer. Their body length can reach 20 meters, and at their heaviest, they can weigh nearly a hundred tons. The color of their body is close to black.

When they are active, they often act alone, and their swimming speed is also very slow. Their food is mostly small shrimp and small fish, and larger ones can also eat some fish.

They mainly operate in the two largest oceans. In our country, we can also see their figures, mainly in the East China Sea or the South China Sea.

At this time, this right whale was moving slowly on the sea surface. People on the other few ships probably saw it too, and there were more and more people standing on the deck.

Ye Yaodong replied, "It's very easy to identify because this whale sprays water from two holes. Think about it, how many holes do the whales you've seen spray water from?"

"One! Don't whales only have one hole on their backs to spray water? This one has two? If you hadn't said it, I almost wouldn't have realized it, and I thought it was two whales spraying water."

"So this is where it differs from other whales. You know what kind of whale it is at a glance. It's very easy to identify."

"Then Brother Dong, you are still smart and amazing. We don't know, but you understand everything."

Ye Yaodong smiled and said, "Otherwise, why am I the boss?"

The right whale's head has two blowholes, located on both sides of the top of the head.

Therefore, when the right whale floats to the water surface to breathe, these two blowholes will spray water columns at the same time, forming two water columns.

This is its most typical and easiest-to-identify feature.

That right whale didn't seem to be afraid of the ship. It wandered leisurely near the fleet, occasionally flapping its tail fin, splashing huge waves.

The crew members all called one another, all crowding to the side of the ship, holding their breath and watching this deep-sea overlord.

Although there are many such behemoths in the deep sea, they can't be seen every day, not to mention this was only the 3rd day they had been out at sea.

Having rested for a night and been idle for a whole day, everyone's spirits were still very good at this time.

Ye Yaodong happened to have his camera hanging around his neck. Taking advantage of the water columns still shooting into the sky, he quickly pressed the shutter button.

He had promised to take pictures of what he saw and heard, and then have the photos developed and take them back to tell stories to the old lady.

"Brother Dong, the sonar receiver at the bottom of the ship suddenly jumped out a string of strange waveforms..."

Low-frequency calls came from underwater. This was a conversation in infrasound that human hearing could not capture.

"It's fine, it's emitted by this whale."

"Is that so... look, look... it just revealed its tail facing up..."

The whale suddenly arched its body and dived. Its tail fin stood on the water surface like a huge black paulownia leaf, and the serrated notches on the edge were clearly visible.

Immediately after, the slow and elegant tail-swinging movement set off a circular surge.

Ye Yaodong instructed, "Control the fishing boat to avoid it a bit, pass from the side, don't get too close."

"Okay."

A group of dolphins had just passed by driving a school of fish, and not long after, they encountered a right whale. Added to the swordfish and orcas encountered the day before, there really were many large fish in this sea.

It can only be said that the current living environment is good, there is no white pollution, industrial pollution is also relatively small, and the deep-sea waters have not yet begun to be heavily fished.

The superior living environment makes the lives of these big fish incomparably comfortable and leisurely. They are not afraid of fishing boats and can often surface for them to see.

However, if it were in the waters of the "Little Japan," that would be another scene.

Not to mention other big fish, even the most docile dolphins attack the fishing boats of the "Little Japan" when they see them. This is a hatred carved into their bones.

Under the forward movement of the fishing boat, the right whale also moved further and further away from them until it could no longer be seen, and everyone returned to the cabin as usual.

The following was much smoother, and nothing happened. At most, a few more schools of fish were discovered, but no large fish of such size appeared again.

Even Chen Shi sighed that there were really many deep-sea fish schools, and they could encounter several waves a day.

And they had encountered large fish several times, and their body size could basically reach more than ten meters. They could also encounter such large schools of fish feeding on the sea surface.

When he woke up, it was already afternoon. He hadn't sunbathed for long before the sun began to slant west until it set behind the mountains.

After the meal, Chen Shi took another shift with Old Xiao.

The night was like ink, and the sea breeze swept across the deck, carrying a salty, fishy smell.

The seawater around the fishing boat, however, lit up strangely.

This time everyone knew that this was the reason for the noctiluca. At first, it was only sporadic faint blue light, but with the undulation of the waves, the light became more and more intense.

As long as it was dark, the noctiluca shone. A whole night passed, and it didn't disappear until dawn.

Fortunately, there was no other state that appeared tonight.

That night, he also rested as usual. After all, he would be able to reach the target fishing grounds tomorrow morning.

Early in the morning, he was still awakened by the sound of the iron door being knocked.

"Dongzi, Dongzi..."

"Yeah?" Ye Yaodong sat up in surprise, "What happened?"

"We seem to be almost at the target fishing grounds."

He thought something had happened and was startled.

He got up nimbly and went out. It was still early morning, and the sea breeze blowing over was still a bit cold, giving him goosebumps as he got up early.

"Quite fast, we're almost there."

"Yeah, I thought we could arrive in the morning, but I didn't expect to arrive early in the morning. I wanted to ask you, can we cast the nets? We're almost at the target fishing grounds, should we be able to start working?"

"Let me check first."

Ye Yaodong first looked at the electronic nautical chart. The DYD longitude was 123°28′E, latitude 25°45′N, and they were currently at longitude 123°30′E, latitude 25°50′N.

It was located about 10 nautical miles northeast of DYD, belonging to its surrounding fishery operation area.

While he was checking the nautical chart, Old Xiao said again, "I didn't expect that besides us coming here to work, there are other fishing boats. At 12 o'clock in the middle of the night, the radar monitored large fishing boats nearby, and then at 1 o'clock and 4 o'clock, they were detected again, and just now they were detected again."

Ye Yaodong nodded, "Normal. It's also possible that it's military patrol. Just detect it and avoid it in advance."

Now there are no restricted areas set up, but the sea area is rich in fisheries and has always been a traditional operation area for our country's fishermen.

Our government will also call on our own fishermen to monitor foreign fishing boats together on the boundary line of the sea area.

"First measure the water temperature and release the detector."

"Okay."

Ye Yaodong patted the ship's whistle, and the whistle sounded briefly. The workers immediately filed out.

He shouted, "Prepare, we'll cast the nets in a while."

The chief engineer roared, "Received."

And the other fishing boats nearby also heard it. While connecting, they also immediately distributed to the surrounding sea areas and moved.

"Boss, boss, shall we start casting the nets?"

"Attention all ships, we are about to reach the target fishing grounds. You can prepare in advance, explore on your own, and prepare for trawling operations."

"Received!"

Several ships replied, and then began to issue various instructions.

Radar scanning, need to confirm that there are no other fishing boats or obstacles nearby.

Sonar detected dense fish school signals in the 50-100 meter water layer, distributed in a belt shape.

Old Xiao's spirits lifted, "There's a school of fish nearby. It looks like either a mackerel school or a bonito school."

"Yeah."

Ye Yaodong also arched his body and saw it on the display screen, "Track the school of fish, wait for the deck to be ready."

The instrument was detecting, and the workers on the deck were not idle either. Everyone was doing preparatory work.

After more than ten minutes, the boatswain shouted on the deck, "Everything is ready."

Only then did Ye Yaodong formally issue the instruction, "Cast the nets."

The hydraulic winch at the stern of the ship slowly released the steel cable, and the trawl net sank into the sea.

The steel sinkers on both sides of the net mouth each weighed 15 kilograms, making the net gear sink quickly, while the orange floats ensured that the net mouth remained open.

Old Xiao controlled the sailing of the fishing boat. Waiting for the net position instrument to show that the trawl net had stabilized at the 60-meter water layer, exactly at the location of the school of fish, he stared at it without blinking to ensure that the school of fish could enter the net.

Sonar continued to monitor, and the fish school signals gradually concentrated into the net.

The fishing boat still maintained a speed of three knots, moving slowly. During the sailing, the sonar continued to detect schools of fish nearby.

Ye Yaodong stared for a while, watching him operate the instrument in an orderly manner, and felt much more relieved.

Having capable people on hand also saved worry, and he didn't have to be so tired. He just needed to grasp the general direction.

Old Xiao also distracted himself and said, "You just woke up, why don't you go eat first?"

"I will, no rush. I'll watch for a while first."

Ye Yaodong took the binoculars again to observe the surrounding sea surface, and also had to check whether the signs on his own ship and the other few ships were clear.

They ensured that the ship identification was clearly visible and the communication equipment was smooth and effective so that they could contact relevant departments in time to obtain help and information.

The fishermen fishing around also have the obligation to help monitor non-national fishing boats.

To prevent the shameless "Little Japan" from using "cross-border fishing" as an excuse to intercept, board, inspect, or even detain their fishing boats. If a conflict occurs, they can also seek help in time, or report in time if there is an accident.

Generally, it can be detected in advance, but if the fishing boat is working, then it's not that they can do whatever they want.

However, this is their territorial sea area, why should they be afraid?

Ye Yaodong contacted and shouted to other fishing boats, "Report the situation of each fishing boat."

"Ship No. 2 is detecting, and the preparatory work is finished."

"Ship No. 3 is moving towards the school of fish in the southeast direction."

"Ship No. 4 is moving in the northeast direction, and the sonar is detecting the school of fish."

They hadn't cast the nets yet, were still moving towards the direction of the sea area where they were preparing to work, and were detecting schools of fish while moving.

"Work on your own, pay attention to safety, and detect the seabed situation clearly before casting the nets."

"Received."

Ye Yaodong said to Old Xiao again, "I'll leave it to you to watch, I'll go eat first."

"Okay, you go."

They had already entered a suitable fishing area, and the seabed terrain in this area was not complicated either, so he relaxed a bit, just fishing normally.

When he went down to eat, other workers were also getting their meals. They were all just awakened by the whistle and immediately climbed up to work, without eating.

Everyone was discussing lively. As soon as he appeared, someone immediately asked him.

"Adong, the soldiers said that we might encounter fishing boats from Little Japan here, is it true or false?"

"Said it's possible that there will be conflicts, is it true?"

Ye Yaodong echoed, "There is a certain possibility."

"Damn, then how many ships do they have? Big ships or small ships?"

"How would I know? Can I still predict the future? Maybe it's a warship? You might know more clearly if you ask these soldiers."

"None of them have been here, and none of them have encountered it."

Ye Yaodong said, "Just fish your fish. Big people worry about big things. We just do our own things well. Don't cause trouble and don't be afraid of trouble."

"Hey, isn't this just talking? Thinking about what to do if we really encounter it?"

"What to do? This is our territory. If they cross the border, just tell them to get lost."

"That's a must."

"Hehe, if we drive them out of our place, can we be on the newspaper?"

"Hahaha, so you wanted to be on the newspaper. I said why you were chasing and asking, wanting to be a hero."

"For sure." ===== CHAPTER 1576 =====