Chapter 1646: Tuna

In the dark night, in the waves plowed by the fishing boat, the blue-green light spots were strange and familiar; they were patches of noctiluca.

In the cockpit, Ye Yaodong turned off the dazzling navigation lights, leaving only the necessary instrument lighting. The ghostly screen light reflected his calm face.

On the radar screen, the eight light spots representing the fleet were still moving forward steadily, and the scanning line scanned the dark green unknown silently.

On the sea chart table, that red route had extended to the vicinity of the steep contour line representing the edge of the continental shelf.

He checked everything before saying to the two people on duty: "Keep alert during night navigation, knock on the cabin door and call me if there is anything."

Last night, he was on duty with the captain, repeating the teaching for them for two days, and also practiced it. Basically, there was no problem, just waiting to cast the net.

At night, he specifically stayed until almost 11 o'clock now. He planned to hand over the second half of the night to the first mate and second mate tomorrow.

Anyway, he lived in the captain's special lounge behind the cockpit. If there was anything, knock on the door, and he would get up immediately. No matter what, he had to give them a chance to stand on their own.

During the day, they had already passed the Kuroshio branch. Next, just walk according to the established route and pay more attention to radar detection, and there wouldn't be any mistakes.

"Know, you go rest. If there is anything, we can contact other fishing boats to discuss and inquire. If there is really a big thing, I will call you again."

Ye Yaodong nodded and went to rest.

In the East China Sea in March, the cold of late winter hadn't completely faded. The sea breeze carried a cold breath, hitting the cold portholes of the "Dongyu No. 1" cockpit, forming a thick layer of fog.

There was no knocking sound at night, and he couldn't sleep soundly. He woke up early in the morning, touched the water vapor on the window with his hand, and only then saw the orange light on the sea level outside. The sun had just come out.

He put on his hat, wrapped a scarf, and put on gloves before opening the door and going out.

"Morning, boss."

"Morning, everything normal last night?"

"Normal, nothing happened last night. We chatted, and the sky was bright."

Ye Yaodong nodded. "I'll eat breakfast and then come to replace you."

"Alright."

Before starting work, except for the people in the engine room, the chef, and the helpers, other boat workers were lying in the lounge, waiting to recharge their energy and have a big fight after reaching the destination.

The azure sky hung low, the sea surface was a gloomy indigo blue, the surge wasn't high, but hitting the boat body still had a strong sense of impact.

After Ye Yaodong finished breakfast, he went to replace the two. His eyes habitually swept over the radar screen, a piece of calm dark green.

"Dongzi, we should be able to arrive in a few hours."

"Mm, without accident, we can arrive before noon. Let's take a look nearby. If there are schools of fish, we can prepare to cast nets."

"Then we will call all the workers up by the way. Anyway, the shift has been arranged, and the sky is bright, so we should prepare in advance."

"Go, arrange the work on the deck first."

Suddenly, on the sonar screen, about one nautical mile to the right front of the fleet, at a water layer of 50-100 meters deep, an abnormal, fast-moving "cloud" appeared!

This cloud's edges were blurred, its internal structure was complex, constantly changing shape violently, and the whole was moving toward the southeast at an astonishing speed!

"Dongzi! High-speed moving target! High density! Looks like... looks like a school of fish being chased!" The first mate, who hadn't left yet, was nervous and excited. This was also a relative.

The walkie-talkie in his hand also successively sounded excited report information from one or two fishing boats. This was relatively close to him.

Ye Yaodong's face showed joy, his eyes condensed, and he immediately ordered: "Searchlight! Right-side deep water area! Continue to detect!"

"Received."

"There are still a few hours to reach the destination. You can try to disperse detection and start casting nets to fish. Don't deviate from the route. If there is a situation, contact immediately."

"Received."

There were plenty of schools of fish near the DYD fishing ground. Everyone didn't need to follow him. Catching this wave of fish schools, they could disperse and detect and fish separately, and might encounter higher value ones.

The searchlight's dazzling white light beam, like a sharp sword, instantly pierced into the dark seawater on the side of the boat. The place where the light beam penetrated instantly ignited the cockpit!

"I..."

"Holy crap..."

"My goodness, so many schools of fish?"

"Got rich, got rich..."

The three people in the cockpit were extremely excited, rubbing their hands back and forth excitedly, eyes fixed on the screen.

In the seawater illuminated by the light beam, a boundless silver torrent was fleeing frantically!

That was a huge school composed of countless billions of anchovies!

They were small, only the length of a finger, but their number was so large and their density so high that they formed a rolling and surging liquid metal storm!

Although the sunlight was blocked by clouds and seawater, the reflection of the fish scales themselves, under the strong light of the searchlight, illuminated this sea area like a boiling sea of mercury!

These schools of fish were driven and compressed by an invisible huge pressure, forming a huge vertical "fish column" with a diameter of nearly 100 meters and a height extending tens of meters!

Ye Yaodong said happily: "Anchovy storm."

Only a certain scale of fish schools could form such a fish column, and those that could form such a rotating fish column could be called XX storm.

"What? Anchovy?"

"Ah? This fish is not valuable, can only be used to make fish sauce, damn, it's a pity, just detected this huge wave of fish schools, it turned out to be just anchovy."

Ye Yaodong pointed to the red dots covering the screen, and there was another circle of concentrated red dots behind.

"Not just anchovy, this circle behind is other schools of fish. If it were the same kind of school of fish, these two waves of red dots would only be concentrated, not slightly dispersed."

It just happened to be teaching.

"That is two waves of fish schools, what fish is that? Let the searchlight shine and see."

"It's a school of mackerel, the searchlight just shone on scattered mackerel."

This huge silver cylinder rotated and rolled at high speed in the seawater, and individual fish that were frightened were constantly thrown out of the edges, forming a silver mist.

And on the periphery of the huge silver cylinder, some mackerel shuttled.

In early spring, mackerel are fat and strong, and their vitality is amazing. Now is the spring flood season for mackerel.

"Go notify everyone, prepare to cast nets."

"Received."

"Call the captain over, you go rest."

"We can wait a while to rest, watch the operation of casting nets and then rest, go eat first now."

Ye Yaodong had no opinion. Casting nets would take an hour later. He had to chase the school of fish first.

The workers received the notice and had already moved according to the shift.

The fishing boat moved along the trajectory of the detected school of fish, following closely behind, just waiting to be ready to cast nets and catch them all in one net.

On the edge of the searchlight beam, in the deeper dark water, several huge shadows suddenly accelerated, like torpedoes launched underwater, carrying terrifying water pressure fluctuations, and slammed into the battlefield!

It's tuna!

"Holy crap, tuna, damn..." Ye Yaodong was excited when he looked at the display screen.

"Tuna, holy crap."

He hurriedly picked up the walkie-talkie and called other fishing boats urgently.

"All boats!! Emergency call to all boats."

His voice was excited and high-spirited.

Other fishing boats didn't know what happened. Hearing the emergency, they hurriedly responded.

"Target: Mixed school of fish in front, tuna juvenile school appeared, all fishing boats come over, core area in front!"

His eyes were fixed on the screen. The anchovy storm was blue-spotted mackerel on the periphery, and a batch of tuna rushing around appeared here.

It was still his sharp eyes that saw the anchovy storm formation seemed to be destroyed.

It might be a school of juvenile bluefin tuna or bigeye tuna. Adult individuals in this month should be in the further ocean.

These kings of speed in the ocean, even in the juvenile stage, were far beyond mackerel in size. Their streamlined bodies were covered with smooth, mirror-like dark blue or blue-black scales, and their huge pectoral fins were like wings.

Its powerful tail fin swayed, stirring up huge vortices, instantly breaking the orderly fish column into pieces.

It was said to be a juvenile, but the size was also two meters long, not losing to some large fish.

If the school of mackerel was slowly eating a buffet, then these tuna were gluttonous swallowing.

"My god... tuna! It's tuna cubs!"

The captain brought his meal up and heard it. His voice changed, full of unbelievable ecstasy.

Tuna! Especially bluefin tuna, its value was far from comparable to mackerel!

Even if it was a juvenile, it could be called moving gold!

Sell it to the little Japan, and earn their money fiercely.

Ye Yaodong's heart was beating faster and faster in his chest, and blood almost rushed to his head. He hadn't been so excited for a long time.

When the Ocean-going boat just got into his hands and went to the deep sea, he caught more than a hundred bigeye tuna by chance, and he made a big profit at that time.

What he encountered today was a school of fish.

The huge school of anchovies was an excellent bait, the crazy blue-spotted mackerel were efficient drivers, and the accidentally descended school of tuna was a super big surprise.

Ye Yaodong's voice was high-spirited and excited, resounding through the cockpits of other fishing boats through the high-frequency radio.

"Fishing boats coming over, occupy the best net casting point! Deep-water trawling, maximum opening! Maximum depth! Full speed ahead! Rush in for me!!"

"Cast net! Cast the deepest! Open the maximum! Steel cable tension top it for me!!"

At this time, the shouting from the deck also came from his walkie-talkie.

"Boss, the deck is ready, you can cast the net immediately."

"Crew gather quickly, chief engineer starts the hydraulic winch, net workers also check well."

"Received."

The chief engineer hung the iron net board weighing 2 tons to the outside of the boat side; the net workers checked the connection points of the net clothing, steel cable, and sinker line to ensure there was no wear or knot loosening.

The net board and the sinker line sank into the sea first, relying on gravity to sink rapidly, supporting the net mouth horizontally and smashing into the water.

The goal was that piece of sea area boiling with silver and blue.

Ye Yaodong stared at the sonar and searchlight field of vision, accurately calculated the angle and speed, controlled the fleet, and rushed into the vortex of the school of fish.

The huge trawl net opened its greedy giant mouth, aiming directly at the mackerel school flashing with seductive blue light in the chaos, and those huge tuna figures rushing around in the silver background like underwater gold!

"Dongyu No. 1 has cast the net and entered the core area, other fishing boats detect well, and cast nets nearby."

"Received."

The captain who was called over didn't care about breakfast, just threw it on the console, his eyes fixed on the screen, extremely excited.

"Got rich, this net will make a big profit if we drag a few more tuna, preferably bluefin tuna."

Ye Yaodong thought so too. He stared at the display screen, fortunately he got up early, didn't miss it.

"Don't care if it's mackerel or tuna, everything that enters the net is money! Ancestors bless! This net earns enough for a year! Go back, give everyone a red envelope!"

"Really?" The captain was pleasantly surprised.

"Really, wait until you see the harvest and then tell everyone, everyone will be happy, this is just going to sea."

"It won't, definitely can net many tuna!"

Ye Yaodong stared at the display screen, and not at ease, picked up the walkie-talkie and ordered the deck.

"Dongyu No. 1 deck, please pay attention, monitor the steel cable tension, pay more attention."

"Received."

This was to prevent net breaking due to deep-sea turbulence or large fish collision.

He controlled the forward direction according to the movement trajectory of the school of fish, slowly chasing the movement of the school of fish.

Not long after he cast the net, two more boats followed closely and cast nets, following the trajectory he sailed.

He estimated that several boats came over to target this wave of fish schools, perhaps they could catch them all in one net.

"Dongzi, this wave of ours can be considered a good start. Before reaching the destination, we encountered such a large mixed school of fish."

Ye Yaodong also nodded happily. "Yeah, good omen."

"Except for anchovy, which is not valuable, the mackerel is also valuable and easy to sell. How many quantities can be sold out in one night."

"Just detected, those mackerel are at least half a meter long, and the large ones are one meter long, each 20 or 30 jin at least."

"This net will make a big profit. Such large mackerel are not cheap, not to mention there are tuna. This is rare. As long as it appears on the pier, it can be snatched away by those bosses immediately."

"Those anchovies are also fine. If it were last year, they could only be thrown back into the sea. Don't forget that there is an extra fish meal processing production line on the boat this year."

"Right, right, fish meal is also valuable."

"We didn't leak any money..."

"Of course, going to sea to fight with life, definitely can earn money, must earn..."

The two chatted while staring at the screen, and also relaxed their mood.

Just now, they were a bit excited when they detected tuna. Now their mood also slowed down, just waiting for the net to be closed and the prize to be opened later.

Ye Yaodong also had the mood to guide him in operating the fishing boat.

After two hours, when it was time to close the net, he specifically handed it over to the captain, intending to go down to the deck to command, and by the way, personally take a look at the goods in this net.

"Prepare to start the net, leave it to you, I'll go to the deck to command and see, if there is a problem, call the deck with the walkie-talkie."

"Good."

Ye Yaodong took binoculars, first stood on the steering building, looked at the sea area nearby, and looked at the sea area situation.

The other seven boats were still working scattered behind. They estimated that they wouldn't close the net so quickly. After all, his boat was the first to rush into the core area and occupy the best net casting point.

It could only be said that his boat ate meat, and other boats drank soup.

They finished this wave of fish schools and had to continue to detect, find the next wave of fish schools, and continue to work.

The huge deep-water trawl winch made a roar on the verge of the limit, and the thick steel cable was released frantically.

The fishing boat slowed down, and the fishing net at the bottom was also slowly being closed bit by bit.

The fishing net was five or six hundred meters long, and it wasn't that fast to close. Half an hour was at least. The more goods, the slower it closed. The winch was roaring at this time, which showed how explosive this net was.

The crew members on the deck were all standing, waiting for this net to be closed, and everyone was discussing excitedly.

Seeing him come, they all asked him one after another.

"Boss, heard that there are many bluefin tuna in this net? Got rich!"

"Tuna is valuable, heard it's dozens of yuan a jin, especially bluefin tuna."

"Heard it's for export, domestic is not easy to sell, all sold to little Japan."

"Selling to little Japan is good, earn their money fiercely."

"Heard there are quite a few little Japan fishing boats in this sea area, fortunately we caught up with this wave of tuna, didn't cheapen those little Japan."

"That's it, money definitely can't be earned by them, we have to earn them fiercely."

Ye Yaodong smiled and said: "Not necessarily bluefin tuna, maybe longfin tuna, close the net and take a look."

"Longfin tuna doesn't seem to be that expensive, a jin seems to be only a few yuan."

Ye Yaodong said again: "These are just cubs, maybe the price will be cheaper, anyway, as long as the quantity is enough, it will make a big profit."

"Right, just come a bluefin tuna, it can sell for thousands of yuan, this fish is more valuable than life."

"That's not wrong at all."

"Our trip to sea chose a good day..."

Ye Yaodong also hoped so in his heart. Cubs are not that valuable, but they are much more valuable than ordinary fish. Just compared with mackerel, they are several times more expensive.

Chief engineer Lao Zhou pulled the joystick hard, the hydraulic winch made a sound, the main steel cable with a diameter of 40mm was as tight as a full bow, with a high-frequency trembling hum, dragging the behemoth in the deep sea to the water surface forcibly.

The crew members clenched the anti-slip rope and stared at the sea surface. The deck made a metal knocking sound under the tearing of the steel cable.

The fishing net hundreds of meters long gradually floated on the water surface, and the inside was densely packed with various large and small fish.

The steel-blue scale light of the blue-spotted mackerel and the dark blue spine of the tuna cubs flickered frantically in the net eyes.

As for other miscellaneous fish and small fish, they had long been ignored by everyone. Where could they still see them?

Everyone leaned close, leaning on the boat side and cheering in surprise.

"Bluefin tuna!"

"Wow, so many tuna!"

"So big, is it still called a cub?"

"Got rich this net, mackerel is also many, all so big!"

"This net must be tens of tons! Tens of thousands, got rich."

Ye Yaodong also ordered excitedly: "Hurry up, don't just be happy, take the bamboo pole, put the net in, open the crane."

"Right, close the goods and see how many bags of goods, and count how many tuna there are."

"Looking at it, it seems like longfin tuna is more?"

"Doesn't matter, anyway, they are all more expensive than ordinary fish, earned it."

"Our boat rushed in first, the goods must be concentrated in our place..."

In the excited discussion, the fish collection bag had been hooked up, hung on the crane, and the fish collection bag soaked in seawater hit the boat side, and the seawater poured down.

A full bag of goods was squeezed, moved to the fish unloading area, and two workers used a hydraulic cutter to cut the live buckle at the bottom of the bag, and the fish goods poured down under gravity.

Fish goods must stay in the fish unloading area for a short time to control water, otherwise the water will drown the sorting area.

The crew members used rubber-wrapped iron shovels to push and block the accumulated fish schools, and everyone could see what fish were in the dense fish schools stacked in a pile.

"Holy crap, dozens of tuna..."

"This bag is down, there are dozens, it is estimated that more than 20 bags can be put down later!"

"At least hundreds or thousands, got rich!"

"... There are six bluefin tuna, the rest are longfin tuna, and they are really all cubs, cubs are actually two meters long."

Ye Yaodong ordered happily: "Hurry up and transport to the sorting table, hurry up and work, pick out the ones that need to be bled, and then flash freeze."

"Immediately."

The workers had long been prepared, just waiting for the goods to be transported up, and then the sorting, bleeding, and assembly line processing were all waiting there.

They used iron shovels to push the fish goods to the slide and transport them to the sorting table. Everyone put on gloves and sorted quickly. The large tuna were picked out first and sent to the processing area.

Ye Yaodong watched them lead the new ones, arranging them in an orderly manner, and was also relieved. Just going to sea, everyone needed to grind and coordinate, and experience was accumulated.

He didn't leave either, wanting to watch the remaining goods continue to be hung up and count how many tuna there were, and how many goods this net could have. ===== CHAPTER 1647 =====

"Our ship is the first to rush in, so the cargo must all be concentrated with us..."

Amidst the excited discussion, the fish-collecting bag had already been hooked and hung on the crane. The bag, soaked through with seawater, bumped against the ship's side, and seawater cascaded down in a torrent.

The tightly packed cargo was squeezed as it was moved to the fish-discharge area. Two workers used hydraulic cutters to cut the buckle at the bottom of the bag, and the fish cargo poured down due to gravity.

The fish cargo must stay in the fish-discharge area briefly to drain, otherwise the water would flood the sorting area.

The crew members used iron shovels wrapped in rubber to push and clear the accumulated fish, and only then could everyone see what kind of fish were in the dense pile.

"Holy crap, dozens of tuna..."

"There are dozens in this one bag alone, and we can probably release 20 more bags later!"

"At least hundreds or thousands of them, we've made a killing!"

"... There are six bluefin tuna, and the rest are albacore tuna. They really are all juveniles, and even the juveniles are actually two meters long."

Ye Yaodong happily instructed, "Hurry up and transport them to the sorting table. Get to work immediately. Pick out the ones that need to be bled, bleed them, and then flash-freeze them."

"Right away."

The workers had long been prepared, just waiting for the cargo to be transported up, and then they divided the labor: those sorting, those bleeding, and those on the assembly line were all waiting there.

They used iron shovels to push the fish cargo onto the slide to be transported to the sorting table. Everyone put on gloves and quickly sorted them. The large tuna were the first to be lifted out and sent to the processing area.

Watching them pair the old with the new and arrange things in an orderly manner, Ye Yaodong felt relieved. Everyone needs to break in when they first go out to sea, and experience is accumulated.

He didn't leave either; he wanted to watch the remaining cargo continue to be hoisted up and count roughly how many tuna there were and how much cargo this one net could yield.