1983 Small Island, Starting From a Large Farmer

Chapter 37 The First Fish (please follow up)

Uncle San’s fishing boat is a single trawler. When lowering the net, it is a bit complicated and dangerous to operate, and it requires the cooperation of an acquaintance.

And novices like Li Duoyu are not allowed to go to the stern of the boat where the net is launched. It is a high-risk area. If you wander around, you will be entangled in the net rope and taken down. It is no joke.

Although Li Duoyu often did the job of trawling in his previous life, in this era, in everyone's impression, Li Duoyu is just a rookie who has never caught fish.

It is impossible for him to participate in the work of releasing the net.

 When preparing to take off the net.

The third uncle is responsible for driving the boat, the eldest uncle is standing at the stern of the boat and is responsible for setting the net, while the cousin and the second uncle are standing on both sides of the stern, where there are two large curved net panels.

 The entire bottom trawl net consists of a net bag containing fish and crabs, a floating ball, a weighted sinker, a net plate and a guy rope.

 The mesh board is the core component of the trawl.

Once this thing enters the bottom of the sea.

 It will cause the mouth of the trawl net to automatically open to both sides.

Prevent the net ropes from getting tangled together.

　　After the uncle threw all the net bags down, the remaining fishing nets, like the noodles below, kept going into the sea due to the pulling force of the sea water.

The main responsibility of the uncle is to prevent these "noodles" from getting tangled together. After the floats and sinkers of the trawl net are put into the sea, the cousin and second uncle must hang the rope buckles on the net plates on both sides of the stern in advance.

 If this step is not done.

It is estimated that the person who forgot the lanyard buckle will have to go out to fish the net as a "water ghost".

 After the screen is removed,

 The bottom trawl is almost ready.

 At this time, everyone can relax, rest when they need to, and pee when they need to.

 Because next, it’s the captain’s business.

 The captain must pull the trawl in a certain direction for two or three hours based on his own experience.

 At this stage.

What everyone fears most is that the trawl net will get caught on the rocks or be scratched by other things.

Once the trawl net hangs on the bottom or is scratched, all crew members will probably have to repair the net on the ship all day long. If the damage is too serious, they will have to return.

 When uncle and the others went to rest.

Li Duoyu stood on the deck and looked at the two tugboats, one large and one small, not far away. Judging from the distance between them, they should be twin tugboats.

Two boats pull a net together, so that the trawl can be spread wide and more seafood can be caught. And a double trawl boat like this requires more crew members. The two boats add up to 20 people. There are many people, otherwise we won’t be able to pick them up after the goods are shipped.

The fishing boat kept going east like this. After driving for about two hours, the sun's rays turned yellow, and the third uncle planned to pull up the net before the sun went down.

 Then the fishing boat began to slow down.

Uncle San didn’t even need to notify him. The crew members who felt the slowdown of the fishing boat all left the cabin and returned to their posts.

 As the trawl was retrieved.

 The net bag at the stern of the boat also gradually emerged from the water.

Li Duoyu also took a closer look. The net bag was very large, and the fish caught was at least half a ton.

 But the fish catch is very mixed, it feels like there is everything.

 After seeing this net bag, the uncle who was nearest couldn't help but cursed: "Damn it, it's another bunch of messy things."

 Everyone shook their heads and sighed.

 For them, the simpler the types of seafood they catch, the better. The more complicated they are, not only will it be time-consuming and laborious to sort, but it will also be difficult to sell them for money.

 Following this, the net package was untied. Thousands of kilograms of marine cargo covered half the deck. Live crabs were running around, hundreds of oil eels and lampreys were running around like snakes, and there were also all kinds of marine fish.

Li Duoyu found that among the crabs in the trawl net, there were not many swimming crabs, and most of them were red-spotted round-toed crabs, which are called red-spotted crabs locally.

Not all crabs are delicious, and this red-spot crab is one of them. It doesn’t taste fresh, and the meat is not sweet. The only thing that has economic value is its crab legs, which are used to make drunken crabs. clamp.

 In this day and age, if you catch this kind of crab, you can’t even sell it at the same price as trash fish. You have to either take it to make crab paste for others, or shovel it directly back into the sea.

Except for the red-spotted crab, the most productive fish is probably the halibut, that is, the flounder. There are many varieties of this fish, including flounder, plaice, and sole.

In addition to this kind of fish, there are also many boss fishes, namely rays, which are fish that you often feel like they are smiling at you when you see them in the aquarium.

The biggest problem with boss fish is that it is not storage-resistant. Fresh boss fish will emit an ammonia-like smell after being stored for a long time. In this era, generally no one eats it.

In addition to this, there are also many skinned fish. It can be said that this net almost gathers the most difficult to sell fish species at the moment, and it is a true money-losing net.

 The ones with a little bit of economic value are the nine-segmented shrimps and cuttlefish scattered among the fish schools.

There is a nine-segmented shrimp at Li Duoyu's feet, which is much longer than the palm of his hand. This shrimp will definitely be a hot commodity in later generations, with a price of at least two hundred per pound, and it is often sold at high prices.

 The third uncle who drove the boat came down from the captain's cabin and his face turned very dark when he saw these seafood. For him, this netted fish was a real loss of money.

Since it is the first net, according to local custom, it cannot be thrown into the sea. It must be pulled ashore and sold. If it is shoveled, it is said that it will bring bad luck for the whole year.

“Pack it up, pack it up, and take it to the shore to see if you want it. If you don’t want it, give it away.”

 Following.

Everyone started picking fish. The same kind of fish should be put in the same basket. At this time, the high rain boots Zhou Xiaoying gave him came in handy.

 When picking fish, if you don’t have this thing, it will be painful if you are bitten by those eels, and many sea fish have spines.

 The boss fish’s tail is highly poisonous.

 There is also a thorn on the head of the skinned fish. After all, everyone makes a living in the sea, and more or less they all bring some "self-defense weapons."

The uncle who was sitting next to Li Duoyu was picking it up and teaching him:

“Duoyu, don’t catch the boss fish by its tail. If you get stung, it will cause cramps in your legs.”

 “When catching this big shrimp, be sure not to catch the shrimp head, there is also a big thorn there.”

“While you’re still catching cuttlefish, don’t point it at people, otherwise”

Before my uncle could finish speaking, his cousin across from him sprayed his face with squid juice. His whole face turned black. He wiped his eyes with his clothes.

 As a result, the clothes were all black.

The uncle couldn't help but scolded: "Li Qiusheng, are you a fool? You have been at sea for so many years, and you still use a cuttlefish mouth to spray people."

 “Send some, I didn’t mean to do it.”

 “Then let me give it to you too.”

 Everyone laughed when they saw this scene. Soon, with the cooperation of a group of people, thousands of kilograms of seafood were sorted, and then everyone worked together to fetch water and rinse the seafood.

 Then put them into the cabin.

 In this era, most fishing boats do not have cold storage and ice. If they do not return to port immediately, they must sprinkle coarse salt on the seafood to prevent them from rotting.

This kind of fish that has been sprinkled with coarse salt usually cannot be sold at a high price after landing. Most of them are eventually bought by others and dried into dried fish.

 After picking the fish.

The group of people who lowered the nets at the beginning will leave. As for cleaning the deck, it will naturally be the turn of newcomers like Li Duoyu.

Sanshu's fishing boat does not have a water gun.

If you want to clean it, you can only carry buckets of water in the sea, and then wash the deck with buckets.

 (End of this chapter)