1983Fishing and Farming between Mountains and Seas

Chapter 324: Selling over kilograms of deep-sea fish

We drove all the way to the fishing port in the county town. The manager of the purchasing station here looked a little younger than Zheng Liu, and the fishermen selling fish called him "Lao Xiao".

It was Liang Ziqiang's turn. He picked out basket after basket of fish. Lao Xiao was quite satisfied with the freshness of the fish, but problems such as falling scales and scratches on the fish body obviously did not escape his eyes.

When calculating the price, the quality of the fish was slightly reduced, but since the purchase price at the fishing port was higher than Zheng Liu's usual purchase price, the price of most fish was comparable to Zheng Liu's normal fish price, or even slightly higher than Zheng Liu's normal quality fish price.

The total amount of fish caught in the four nets is quite large, with a total weight of more than 4,600 kilograms!

This means that each net catches at least more than 1,000 kilograms of fish.

More than four thousand six hundred kilograms, this is a number that is never dared to be imagined in normal shallow sea fishing. Even if you are lucky during the spring flood season and cast a large net in a fortress like Longjuling, you are still far from this number.

The most valuable one was the albacore tuna, which sold for $2.30, and that was because it wasn't in great condition, otherwise it would have sold for $2.50. This albacore tuna also sold for more than $80.

Of course, there are many types of tuna, and albacore tuna is not the most valuable one. The most valuable is bluefin tuna, which is sold for hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars a piece. It is the particularly large bluefin tuna.

The second is the real bonito. The bomb fish is also known as the small golden tuna. This real bonito is more expensive than the flat rudder bonito and round rudder bonito that Liang Ziqiang usually catches. It is sold at 80 cents per catty, which means one fish costs more than 30 yuan.

Kang's swordfish costs 60 cents per pound, and one piece sells for more than 20 yuan.

The amberjack weighing about thirty or forty pounds is not that expensive, and each one is sold for only a dozen yuan.

Among the yellowtails, there is another fish that is worth a fortune. It is also a deep-sea fish, but it is not the yellowtail.

Mahi-mahi looks good but is not particularly delicious, and the price is not too high. A fish weighing dozens of kilograms only sells for a dozen yuan.

The remaining ones that are really large in quantity are bluefish, bluefin bream, thorny fish, squid, pomfret, sea wolf fish, blue crab and the like.

These are priced at a few cents or a few dimes, while others are priced at 20 to 30 cents, or 40 to 50 cents.

In total, I got more than 1,210 yuan for 4,600 kilograms of fish, after deducting 36 yuan in taxes.

A large ship like his needs to pay tax after selling fish at the public purchasing point in the fishing port. The tax rate is 3%, which is implemented according to the standard. Of course, even after deducting the tax, it is still better than selling it to Zheng Liu.

Without any luck, he earned about 1,200 yuan just by going out to sea, which was something Liang Ziqiang had never earned in his previous career at sea.

Of course, large ships also consume a lot of energy.

Sailing consumes a lot of fuel, the winch consumes a lot of fuel, and the refrigerated tank also consumes a lot of fuel.

The ropes are worn out and the trawling operation may easily damage the net.

All in all, the actual profit out of the twelve hundred is estimated to be only seven or eight hundred.

It takes two days to go out to sea. On average, the profit is more than 300 yuan a day.

After leaving the purchasing station, Liang Ziqiang paid the wages to all five crew members.

This is a trip to the deep sea, and the catch is huge. We sorted the fish on the deck under the scorching sun, sweating profusely and racing against time as if we were in combat.

The staff he hired was quite limited, so everyone had to work until very late to sort out the fish. Even if they could finally go to bed at night, they still had to take turns to stay up all night. In fact, it was not one day's work, but one day's work plus half a day's work.

Therefore, this cannot be calculated as three yuan. Liang Ziqiang gave them five yuan per person per day as a labor fee, which means ten yuan per person for two days.

Since Zhu Tianpeng has more comprehensive knowledge, which is equivalent to the first mate on the ship, and his role in operating the winch is more important, he gets two more dollars, or seven dollars a day.

The total wages for the five people was fifty-four yuan.

There is a diesel shop at the fishing port in the county. Liang Ziqiang used up most of the diesel he bought last time on this trip, so he bought more than 300 yuan worth of diesel. This time, he didn't need to buy it in barrels, but directly added the oil to the fuel tank on the basement level of the steel ship.

On the way back to the village, Liang Ziqiang told them that they would rest tomorrow and go out to sea again the day after tomorrow depending on the weather conditions.

Tiredness was not the primary reason for the rest. After all, we were only out at sea for two days.

The more important reason was that he had to drive his lotus-patterned wooden boat to the city tomorrow to buy a watch.

This time when he went out to sea, he fully realized how important it was to carry a watch when going to the deep sea.

The standard trawling operation is to trawle for three hours at a speed of 3 to 5 knots. But he didn't have a watch, so the three hours was a rough estimate and not accurate. If the trawling time is too short, there will be no catch; if it is too long, the fish will be more damaged. It is very important to control it to exactly three hours.

Buying a watch is urgent for him.

On the way, Liang Ziqiang slightly increased the speed of the boat, trying to return to the village shore as soon as possible.

Because, before going out to sea yesterday morning, he had already agreed with his family to stay in the deep sea for only one night and return to the big pier this afternoon.

At this point, Chen Xiangbei must have already started waiting at the big dock to welcome his new ship back from its first voyage.

Sure enough, when he arrived at the pier, he saw his wife standing on the shore in a floral dress from afar.

In the past month, my wife has recovered quite well in all aspects, especially her figure. Her waistline has shrunk to the size when she was a daughter, her figure has become light again, and she is still so slim when she puts on her old clothes.

Liang Ziqiang thought, my wife has been eating well recently, with pork rib soup and chicken soup every now and then. Some people really don't gain weight easily.

But the figure is not completely unchanged. The waist has not changed, but from above, the spectacular sight shows no sign of being lowered.

This made Chen Xiangbei, who was standing on the shore waiting for his return, look even more pleasing to the eye.

Not only Chen Xiangbei came. When the boat got closer, he found that his mother had also come, holding little Cheng Cheng, a little away from the shore, talking to villagers in groups of three or four on the road.

Lizhi and Xiaohai were also playing nearby.

The steel ship dropped anchor and the six people packed up their belongings and got off the ship.

Liang Ziqiang no longer has to move the fishing gear from the boat to his home every time. The net compartment on the basement level of the boat is equipped with a large lock, so he can basically rest assured when putting his things in it.

He did carry two buckets off the boat because they were filled with fish and shrimp brought back from the deep sea.

When you go out to the deep sea and catch so many fish, you naturally want to bring some good fish and shrimps with you to keep for yourself and taste the deep sea delicacies.

He also asked the other crew members to take some fish and shrimp back home for consumption.

As soon as they reached the shore, Chen Xiangbei's bright eyes curved towards him with a smile, forming a crescent shape.

"I saw that you were driving here from the direction of the county town. Have you sold all the fish?" She came forward and asked, looking at him.

"They've sold out, so I came back a little late. Now there are only these fish in the buckets. Don't look at these two buckets, there are all kinds of fish, and the variety is much more diverse than usual. You'll know when you see them when I get back!" Liang Ziqiang said to his wife.

This was not the first time that the daughter-in-law had hosted the ceremony to welcome the return of a new ship, and she was now considered an expert. She naturally took the bucket from his hand, put it aside on a stable ground, and then stuffed a large packet of firecrackers in her hand into his hand.

Liang Ziqiang lit the firecrackers and glanced at Lizhi who was wandering on the side of the road.

Last year, when the Lotus Pattern boat returned from its first voyage, his cunning wife made use of lychees to make trouble. She attracted his attention with the words "Don't play in the water with lychees", and then when he was not paying attention, she stuffed the White Rabbit dough into his arms, catching him off guard.

This time he was sure that the lychees were far from the shore and there was no way they could play in the water. If his wife did the same thing again, he would definitely not even look at her again.

Amid the sound of firecrackers, the other crew members also went back to their homes.

This time, Chen Xiangbei did not launch a surprise attack. She waited until he finished setting off the firecrackers, picked up the bucket, and went home with him, as if she had completely forgotten about the custom of making white dough rabbits that had been passed down from generation to generation.

After walking a few steps, she looked at him with a smile and told him:

"I don't know what to say to your son. You weren't at home last night, so he started making noises and refused to go to sleep. He hasn't seen you all day and is looking for you!"

"Whoever gives him milk is his mother. How could he miss me?" Liang Ziqiang's heart melted when he thought of that cute little face. He couldn't help but turn his head to look to the left front, wanting to walk over and hug his little one.

Before he took two steps, he felt something soft and cool fall into his palm, and then his wife's clear voice rang out:

"Hold it steady, it's already in your hand!"

Liang Ziqiang secretly groaned and hurriedly held the White Rabbit dough in his hand. Panic was written on his face again, and he was no less flustered than last year.

I was careless, again careless, and let my wife succeed again!

(End of this chapter)