1983Fishing and Farming between Mountains and Seas

Chapter 395: Forming a Fleet

Since the end of May, when the contract was not signed, Liang Ziqiang had already been busy traveling to Niu Shi Island and Die Snapper Island to look for bream and snappers during the spawning period.

Last year, he caught a large number of black sea bream, cow dung sea bream and even spotted sea bream on Niu Shi Island, and also caught a large number of snappers on the narrow island provided by Lao Xie.

March to June is the peak period for snappers and groupers to spawn and reproduce. If you miss June, it will be difficult to harvest wild snapper fry later. Liang Ziqiang must seize this fleeting opportunity in June.

As a result, bull dung snapper and pipefish were relatively easy to deal with, and a large number of broodstock were caught on those two small islands. However, grouper was difficult to find, and we didn't catch many in several days.

Among the snappers caught, those with better size and appearance, no injuries on the body and strong vitality were kept in large basins of sea water by Liang Ziqiang, and then transported back to the village to be kept in the pond for a while.

The normal use of that pond is to be used as a shrimp pond, and it also stores seawater, but now is not the time to release shrimp fry, so a small pond was separated by a net and temporarily used to raise the broodstock of these snappers.

A batch of solid wooden mesh boxes made by carpenters were finally completed.

Liang Ziqiang invited his father, elder brother, Lin Baixian, and two other very important people. Six people and three boats chose to set off quietly at night.

The ship was carrying these solid wooden cages and nets, as well as a batch of red bricks and tiles, and was heading towards a distant, deserted place.

After driving for a while, we suddenly turned east. We drove further and further away, and unexpectedly arrived at the small island that had never been visited by anyone - the Nameless Island.

That’s right, the main base he actually wanted to implement for snapper and grouper farming was not the deep-sea wintering ground he had contracted on the surface, but an unnamed island.

Liang Ziqiang was very clear about how abundant and plump the various fish species on Wuming Island were.

The wintering fishing grounds may not be suitable for breeding snappers and groupers, but the Unknown Island is definitely suitable!
Not only is it suitable, but it is also blessed with unique natural conditions. It can be said to be a rare and chosen place. The fish raised here can really have the same taste as wild fish.

Of course, in late autumn and early winter, Liang Ziqiang will also go to the deep-sea wintering grounds to place some cages and raise some sea bream.

After all, he contracted the place for breeding, so he had to at least make it look like it.

When the snappers come on the market next year, if the meat is really top-notch, he can just say that it comes from the farm contracted in the deep sea.

He had agreed on all these statements with his father, elder brother and Lin Baixian in advance, and they had a unified version of the story.

It was already dawn when they arrived at the nameless island. The six people cooked breakfast on the boat and ate it, then immediately started working against the clock.

After being installed, each cage is as big as a normal living room and is placed near the reef belt around the nameless island, fixed there by anchors and cables.

The fish cage consists of two layers, the outer layer is a solid wood grid, and the inner layer is a net to prevent the fish inside from escaping.

In addition, there are many special inverted bark structures on all four sides of the cage, just like a ground cage net and a seabed net. The things inside cannot get out, but the things outside can come in continuously.

In this way, the snappers cannot swim out, but small fish, shrimps and a large amount of plankton from the nameless island can enter the cage, providing them with a large amount of natural food. Although it is farmed, it is relatively close to the wild habitat.

Of course, some larger fish such as swordfish and catsharks cannot get into the net cages, thus protecting the safety of the snappers.

Although it is basically in a semi-wild state, someone still needs to stay on the island to take proper care of it.

The people responsible for taking care of them on the island were the other two relatives who came with them to the Nameless Island.

The two men were in their forties, almost fifty, about the same age as Liang's father. The man was Yuan Bing and the woman was Feng Yindi.

They are cousins ​​from Liang's mother Yuan Qiuying's side, that is, Liang Ziqiang's uncle and aunt. The couple can drive a boat and have a good relationship with Liang Ziqiang's family.

As usual, it was a salary plus a 2% dividend. The two relatives usually didn't make much money fishing together at home, so after hearing Liang Ziqiang's calculations, they agreed to come to the island to help with aquaculture.

In fact, there are abundant small fish and shrimps in this area, and a large number of fish and shrimps will automatically enter the net cages. Yuan Bing and his wife only need to cast nets nearby to catch some fish and shrimps and feed them into the cages as supplements.

The six people stayed on the island for five or six days. They chose a good place that was shady and sheltered from the wind, and built a small house with red bricks and tiles, which was the same size as their home hut.

During these few days, Liang Ziqiang also paid attention to the condition of the net cages. Every day when he found fish eggs, he would scoop them up and put them into a special fine-mesh net cage, waiting for them to hatch.

The hatching of snappers and stone clams is very different from that of prawns. Frying fish can be hatched in just one day. Feeding the fry with Artemia or other plankton will allow the fry to successfully eat. It will take more than a month for the fry to grow scales, and then they will become juvenile fish, and can eat more plankton and mysid shrimp, krill, etc.

Six days later, Liang Ziqiang left the lotus boat on the island for the couple to use, and left enough oil, salt, rice and flour, and said that he would send things over every half a month. If they needed anything, the couple could drive the lotus boat back to the village to get it.

Of course, in the future, when Liang Ziqiang delivers things to Wuming Island, he will try to do it in the middle of the night.

Although we had always taken a detour and been quite secretive every time we came to the Nameless Island, we had to be even more secretive from today on.

After he had explained everything that needed to be explained in detail, he boarded his father's gondola and left with his father and brothers.

From that day on, Wuming Island quietly became his first aquaculture island.

But he believed that it would not be the last one. The uninhabited wild islands mentioned in the news in later generations were all treasure troves. He planned to remain the owner of this island quietly until several years later, when the islands were discovered by the world. It would not be too late to take the next step when they were made public...

After a lot of busy things were dealt with, it was already early June.

The most urgent thing next is to immediately increase the number of boats and develop a fishing fleet step by step!

Otherwise, when late autumn comes this year, when they can legitimately go to the contracted wintering waters to carry out large-scale operations, there will not be enough boats. Like last year, they can only fight alone on each trip and drag back a few thousand dollars worth of fish. That would be a waste of resources.

Of course, we can't add too many ships at once to expand the fleet. The main thing is to take into account the limitation of manpower.

In the evening, Liang Ziqiang discussed the matter with his father again, and the main focus was still on the issue of manpower.

Next, he had to recruit helpers to increase the crew. The mode of going out to sea would be changed from a single ship to a fleet, so that the requirements for the crew could be appropriately lowered.

Occasionally there may be one or two people who you don't know very well mixed up in the mix, and who may have a bad personality, a bad temper, or complicated thoughts, but you don't have to worry too much.

Several boats are working together and keeping an eye on each other, so no one boat will easily cause any serious trouble.

Liang Ziqiang's current plan is to expand from one large steel ship to three.

As for the ship owner, he planned to arrange Zhu Tianpeng and Liang Chun to work together, one principal and one deputy, to drive one of the ships.

Lu Song and Lin Liming teamed up, the chief and the deputy, to drive the second ship.

As for the third ship, it would be no problem for me to drive it directly, but I still needed an assistant to be responsible for lookout and operate the winch, which is equivalent to a deputy.

Liang Ziqiang had an idea that had been in his head for a long time, and now he spoke it out to his father:

"Dad, your ten-acre shrimp pond will also be stocked with shrimp fry at the end of this month. But in fact, after the shrimp fry are released, you don't necessarily have to raise them yourself in the future..."

At first, Liang's father was still confused as to why he suddenly changed the subject to his shrimp farming:
"Go and invite people too?"

"Yes," Liang Ziqiang thought, "I might not trust ordinary people and worry about the technology being leaked. But I thought about it, the three of them, Xiang Bei's father and brother, can actually have some spare time to manage the 40 acres. Anyway, they are busy no matter how much they feed, so they can feed the 10 acres for you. This way, you don't have to guard the shrimp pond every day, and you can continue to go out to sea to make a lot of money!"

"Speaking of going out to sea, you know your brother," Liang's father said worriedly, "He wasn't very helpful when he helped me, so he should just focus on raising shrimps. The way you found is quite suitable for him! I'm the only one left, but I can't go out to sea even if I want to!"

"No need for big brother's help, how about I help you?"

"You mean..." Liang's father immediately understood his idea, "I want to go to your big ship and go to the deep sea together?!"

Liang Ziqiang nodded: "Yes, of the three large ships now, the one I drive is the most in need of manpower. There is no first mate. If Dad can come, I will drive the boat, and you will lookout and operate the winch, and the manpower will be solved immediately. The remaining ordinary crew members are mainly responsible for setting nets and sorting fish. This kind of manpower is easy to recruit!"

After looking at his father, Liang Ziqiang continued:
"As we expand our business and build our fleet for the first time, I plan to sort out the remuneration and make some changes. In the past, we calculated wages, with the average crew member getting five dollars a day and the first mate getting seven dollars.

After the fleet is formed, the average crew will keep their salary of 5 dollars, but for the captain and first mate, I plan to cancel their salary and give them a share of the profits instead!"

(End of this chapter)