My Ranch Chapter 24

Chapter 24: Fishery development strategies

Translated by me, edited by Kai.

Noticing the type of bait Robins brought, Jiang Hai felt distressed. That’s because Jiang Hai recognized these shrimps. These are alaskan pink shrimp, it can be said to have a very good taste.

These are also sold in China. If genuine wild shrimp are sold in China, then it would cost at least several dozens for 500 grams. Although the price of seafood in Harbin isn’t as low as those coastal areas, but it can still be considered cheap compared to other inland areas. Ordinary live shrimp cost around 20 yuan for 500 grams. Any frozen shrimp that can be sold for several dozen a catty is not a common sight; especially when these shrimp have a large size.

However right now these shrimps are being used as bait, then Jiang Hai has really nothing left to say except curse them for being prodigal. Since Robins explained, there are tons of these shrimps here. Normally they live on sea beds 150 meters below the surface, but during those days with overcast skies, when it rains or when there is a hurricane, the bottom of the ocean lacks oxygen thus these shrimp will float up for oxygen rich water. During these times you can easily cast out a couple nets from the sh.o.r.e and catch several kilos of these. To most fishermen here, these shrimp and those clams on the seabed are all just fishing baits.

In America and European countries, clams, sea cuc.u.mbers, sea urchin and the likes generally have very few followers. Even if it is the best quality abalones, they won’t even touch it if it is not super big. To them the words ‘to waste natural resources recklessly’ carries no value. Anyway, by following the so called local customs, Jiang Hai is indifferent to using these as bait since they are pretty easy to catch.

When all three have hooked on their baits, Robins was the first to cast out his line. Since they were boat fishing, Edward prepared 2.7m long rods with a wheel of a 100m line. With Robins’ strength, his line was cast out about 50 meters. This type of distance is not something an ordinary fishermen can cast. Following his cast, Robins tightened up the loose line and turned towards Edward and Jiang Hai with a smug smile. A person’s fishing skills can be seen just by how far he can cast out his lines.

Seeing Robins’ taunting expression, Edward soon followed and cast out his line. This time, the line was cast to a point almost 60 meters away; clearly further than where Robins cast his. Seeing this, Robins can’t help but nodding, approving of this old man’s skills. Finally it’s Jiang Hai’s turn. Although this is the first time he went sea fishing, he still has some knowledge of how to cast lines. With a powerful fling with his two hands, the weight flew out like a comet with the line on the wheel spinning continuously. After about 70 meters, the weight finally started to drop in trajectory.

Seeing this Robins and Edward are both flabbergasted. They know their boss has some monstrous strength, but they never would’ve thought it would be this terrifying. Feeling the two’s astonished looks, Jiang Hai can only grin. Although this is his first time sea fishing, but this doesn’t mean he has no clue how to cast out a fishing line. At least, when it comes to comparing strength, the current him will not lose to anyone.

“Boss your strength is amazing…. But you’re stuck now.” Edward praised, then added on another line.

“Stuck? What you mean?” Hearing this, Jiang Hai can’t help but ask back.

“Just that your hook or weight got caught with the reefs below. If you don’t believe me, see if you can retrieve back the line.” Edward explained with a crooked smile.

Hearing Edward’s explanation, Jiang Hai followed through. Sure enough, he can’t retrieve back the anymore line when it tightened. After pulling with some strength, the line suddenly loosened. But when Jiang Hai retrieved back all the line, both the hook and the weight is gone.

“Ehhh…. This….” Seeing the empty line, Jiang Hai can’t help but be embarra.s.sed.

“No problem, this is a very common sight for new people. I’ve still got tons of hooks and weight. They are not expensive. $10 and you can buy 100 sets.” Seeing the embarra.s.sed expression on Jiang Hai’s face, Edward happily stated. Getting stuck with corals and rocks, is especially common for beginners when it comes to bottom fishing.

*Cough* Jiang Hai quickly went to prepare his lines with a new set of hook and weights. This time he casted the line out with even more strength to almost 80 meters away. But not even a minute pa.s.sed before he is stuck again.

…

“What the heck, how is this so hard??” After the second, third, fourth, fifth, … , twelfth time of losing his hook and weights, Jiang Hai is ready to give up. He sensed that if he took a handful of weights and tossed them into the water, he’ll probably crush more fish than the amount he has caught; which is 0.

“Fishing is not an easy to learn sport boss. When you cast out the line, you cast it out very far. So the weight will drag the spare line down with it. Hence when you try to retrieve the line, the hook and weight will float up and get stuck with the reefs below.” Edward explained the science of line casting to Jiang Hai upon seeing his discouraged looks.

At the same time he cast out his lines and quickly retrieved his line. Not long after a half meter long cod was raised out of the waters. Normally these half meter long or above fish will fight for a long time before it is willing to be reeled in, but Edward is not your average person. Seeing this big of a fish, he has no wish to keep it underwater. Immediately up with his two arms, he carried the fish out of the water with force and threw it onto the ground behind him. Seeing those arms that are thicker than his head, it is not hard to imagine the amount of arm strength this old man possesses. On the other hand, when Robins set his eye on the cod, his eyes flashed.

“My G.o.d, This fish is definitely big enough for all of us tonight.” Robins stated as he ran over and put the fish into a previously prepared cooler.

When sea fish leave water, they can rarely live for long. This is also the reason why you rarely see live sea fish inland. This is also the case with cod. Basically, in inland America, all the cod you see are frozen and have had their head and guts cleaned out. There is also a difference with the cod sold in China, mainly because the ones you can find in China are all smaller than this. Live cod of this size generally only fetch $30. It is not worth much but it never lacks markets to sell to.

“Alright let’s fish for fun now. The small one we fish can be used as bait, while letting go of the big one. I really want to see how many kinds of fish are here and how are the stocks.” Said Edward. His main purpose here is to figure out the conditions of the stocks here. Fishing for dinner came second.

“The fish stocks underwater are very abundant. From what I can tell, there are dozens of species plus a region of coral reefs. There are a bunch of both large and small fish. There are also a lot of crabs and lobsters.” Jiang Hai stated while tying on another set of hook and weight.

“Oh? The fish stocks here are this abundant?” Hearing this, Edward and Robins had very different expressions. Edwards has one of shock, while Robins can’t help but feel doubt since even he doesn’t know the conditions underwater.

“Yes, I had some divers survey the area before I came back.” Jiang Hai’s answer shocked Robins. He also cursed himself for being too talkative, since the amount of strange things that they will encounter will only rise as the ranch develops. He hopes that every time he says something, he won’t have to be scared of the consequences. Hence coming up with lies to cover up these strange behaviours is a must.

“If it’s like this, then that is just perfect.” Edward replied back. He is also itching to see if he can catch any bigger fish. As for Jiang Hai, he just finished tieing and cast out his 14th set of hooks and weights

“Uncle Edward, since the fishery is this abundant, is it okay to only catch and not cultivate for now?” Seeing the enthusiastic Edward, Jiang Hai asked.

“I don’t know the specifics, but if it is like what you said then the fishery here is definitely worth something. With a single trawl and fishing near the coast, it’s perfectly fine.” Edward confirmed. If it is really like this, then this fishery can easily be worth more than a few million dollars. “Since this is our private fishery, then without cultivation, we can only decrease the amount of catching trips we make. Once a month is more than enough. Normally I need to do routine patrols, thus when it comes time to catching, I’m going to need you and Philemon’s help. So no need to hire more hands.”

Since there are no plans for cultivating fish, there is no need to buy and release fish and there is no need to release large amounts of fish food. As a result, this saves a lot of unneeded trouble.

Having had a chat with Edward, Jiang Hai roughly confirmed the things his fishery is going to need. A brand new coastal fishing trawler is a must. It will cost roughly $600,000. At this price you can easily get a pretty big trawler, but the boat itself is not a waste of money. The endless money burner will come from the cost of the oil required to make the boat move. Apart from this, there is also the need for several work boats and the like for routine patrols. These stuff are much cheaper, the best in cla.s.s for these only cost $100,000 at most.

Buying boats, fishing nets, and reserve oil, came to just under a million dollars in total. This kind of spending, Jiang Hai can barely bear. Thinking up to here, Jiang Hai can confirm that he got lucky by being able hire a veteran mariner like Edward.