Xinhuagang, which is in the rainy season, has a rare sunny day.

Mr. Zhu sat in a tavern by the dock, blowing the refreshing sea breeze, drinking the famous local "fortune wine" (that is, 108 drugs, the ingredients contained in which have a certain inhibition of malaria in the pre-hepatocellular stage, and the drugs were extracted after soaking in wine, and the effect was stronger, which can effectively reduce the chance of getting malaria, see chapter 217 of this volume for details), but his eyes were fixed on a group of returning dhows in Xinhuaxia Bay.

These fishing boats are all built by the local Xinhua Shipyard, and are built with high-quality timber such as red sandalwood, yellow sandalwood, and red sandalwood, which are extremely rich in the back mountain, and the tonnage is not big or small, probably about 100 tons. At present, there are more than 30 such fishing boats in Xinhuaxia Bay, each with seven or eight fishermen, who go to the fishing grounds designated by the government to fish during the fishing season, and the fish and shrimp caught are purchased by the government and reprocessed.

There are 5 fishing boats and 1 processing boat in the fleet in front of you, and you can see that the leader of the boat is full of red light, and you can know that this time you will definitely gain a lot. Sure enough, after these boats skillfully used the current in the bay and the southeast wind blowing over the bay to get close to the pier, the boss of the boat jumped on the pier first, and then shouted in a loud voice: "Old grandson, let me die quickly, this time I was lucky, I caught a fish like that, by the way, it's called bigeye tuna!" Obediently, it's the first time I've caught it, and I caught it at night, this thing is said to dive very deep during the day, and it's not easy to catch. It's still a good longline fishing method, and you can also fish by the way when you catch shrimp, killing two birds with one stone, hey! ”

"Where, where?" Boss Sun, who was wrapped in an apron, was cooking fish for Zhu Heng in the back kitchen, when he heard the shouting on the dock. With a kitchen knife still in his hand, he rushed out. Behind him. And two little kids with snotty noses. Dressed in clothes made from adult clothes, they stuffed the dried shrimp in their mouths and rushed over to watch the excitement.

Although Zhu Heng respected his identity and was embarrassed to squeeze over to take a look, he was actually quite curious. He is also a rich man in his local area, but he can't eat this Rausch tuna, it's not that he can't afford it, he can't buy it! It's not sold on the market at all! In the past, I often heard that tuna was abundant in the New China area. However, because the local fishermen focus on shrimp such as giant prawns, pink prawns, lobsters, and eagle claw shrimp, the tuna occasionally caught is salted or dried and exported to the mainland as a "tribute" for the exclusive enjoyment of dignitaries (traversals).

Master Zhu had a heart for this fish at that time, because he vaguely heard that the nobles in the capital were eager for this kind of fish, and even did not hesitate to spend a lot of money for it. In such a situation, the fishermen of Xinhua Port have actually become more interested in this big fish over the years, as can be seen from the fact that they catch shrimp during the day and tuna with longline fishing at night.

"Your kid has made a fortune, if you sell it to the factory, you can at least earn hundreds of yuan." Boss Sun looked at this bigeye tuna, which weighed hundreds of kilograms. said with some embarrassment: "Your kid is really lucky, you can catch a few in a year in previous years." I'll let you catch up. ”

The captain of the boat laughed, and while directing his subordinates to quickly deliver the pickled tuna to the seafood processing factory not far away, he said: "I was lucky to go to sea this time, in addition to those shrimps, I also caught a lot of expensive things." Well, according to the catalogue of the hair, it should be called sea cucumber and saw-edge blue crab respectively, hehe, they are all in demand for local demand. This day can finally be relaxed, the luck was too bad before! ”

"Hehe, the fishing moratorium for hurricane season (November to March of the following year) is about to begin, and you kid can rest at home and work as a worker. I can't do it anymore, guarding such a broken tavern, pulling two little grandchildren, and if I don't do it for a day, I won't have anything to eat, alas, I work hard. The old grandson shook his head and said in an envious tone. His son and daughter-in-law were both from the Ming Dynasty, and after coming to New China from Shandong, they both died in an epidemic, leaving behind two grandchildren.

Hearing what the old grandson said, the boat boss from Dengzhou with him patted him on the shoulder to show comfort, and then changed the topic and said: "By the way, you will bring me 6 bottles of fortune wine in a while, everyone has been at sea for so long, first drink two sips to relieve your hunger." When you're done, you give me a whole table of dishes in the evening, don't get some fish, everyone is about to vomit. Just beef and mutton or something, I will feast the whole fleet at your place in the evening, and the harvest of this sea is so big, everyone is happy together. ”

"No problem." Lao Sun patted his chest and said, after finishing speaking, he seemed to remember something, walked in front of Zhu Heng Zhu in a few steps, and said helplessly: "Sin sin, I forgot that the crucian carp that the guest officer was going to make was still in the kitchen when I saw the rare fish caught outside." Don't blame the guest officer, the little old man will do it. ”

The crucian carp that Zhu Heng ordered was naturally an African crucian carp. These African crucian carp are all farmed in captivity, and they are raised in a large rice field on the Saigo side. This fish is highly adaptable and can also eat mosquito larvae in rice fields, so it is farmed in large quantities. In the future, however, this kind of fish farmed in rice fields may not be common, because the New China Pioneer Team has officially decided not to grow rice in the next year, because the rice-growing area is infested with mosquitoes and many people have become sick -- and will instead grow corn.

"It's okay." Zhu Heng said with a smile. After seeing Lao Sun Tou turn to the back kitchen, Zhu Heng turned his gaze to the group of fishermen who were still talking on the dockside, but his heart was gradually lively.

A bigeye tuna weighing hundreds of kilograms is sold to a seafood factory for hundreds of dollars? It's really unknowledgeable to the countrymen, if this fish is sold to Dongfang Port, it can be sold for at least 300 yuan, and if you meet someone you like, it is possible to buy it for 500 yuan. In this way, this business is really profitable!

Thinking of this, Master Zhu Heng and Zhu carefully calculated again, and had long heard that a friend from the Ministry of Agriculture revealed that the northwest of Xinhuaxia Island from Mahajanga to Bei Island, the northeast around St. Mary's Island, the north coast of Xinhua Port, and the 100 nautical miles southeast of Tacheng Port in the central part of the country are all ideal fishing grounds. Among them, the northern area of Mahajanga in the west is extremely rich in shrimp resources, known as the "shrimp storehouse", even La Plata, which is rich in red shrimp, cannot be compared with here. I heard that the local natives have backward shrimp fishing skills, and they all strip naked and dive to the bottom of the sea to catch sea cucumbers and lobsters with their hands, so they still harvest a lot every day, which shows the abundance of resources here. Those ordinary giant shrimp are fine, but the sea cucumbers, saw-edged blue crabs, lobsters and so on are indeed in short supply in the local area, and they are worth doing.

In addition, there are many shrimp around St. Mary's Island, which are also worth catching. However, the most famous fish in the area is not shrimp, but grouper, hairtail, eel and other fish, which are also warm-water fish that are not found in the mainland (most of the local fish are cold-water fish), and it has been observed that the market has been very good.

Of course, the most famous thing in New Huaxia Island is of course tuna. For some reason, this large fish, which swims in the sea all year round, has always been very popular with dignitaries. Whether the tuna caught is made into dried fish, salted fish or canned fish, they can quickly send agents to snap it up, which is staggering.

The entire area around New China Island (including Mauritius, Seychelles and the coast of Tanzania) is famous for its bigeye tuna and yellowfin tuna fishing grounds. Thinking of this, Master Zhu began to nervously calculate the investment needed to do this business.

First of all, a tuna fishing boat with steam power is a must. Well, it's better to modify it, the hooks should be more varied, and you can usually catch squid here. After all, whether you can catch tuna depends on luck, many times you may not be able to catch it for ten days and a half months when you go to sea, which is a common thing, so prepare some fishing hooks for squid, and usually fish for squid when you are fine, you can also subsidize it a little to reduce costs. It's just that such a boat can't be taken for three or five thousand yuan, and it is necessary to prepare fishing tackle and supplies, and usually have to maintain the boat, oops, this is really not something that ordinary people can afford.

Secondly, you have to obtain a fishing license issued by the government. I'm not a local, so it's a little difficult to get this license, but it's not impossible to start a relationship, but it just takes a lot of trouble.

In the end, recruiting sailors was a headache. Although the government has now relaxed the ban on private capital in some industries, it has also set some unspoken rules to restrict private capital. In the case of fishing, you can apply for a licence to fish, and you can order boats in the country – and even the government has incentives (because it can train reserve sailors), but the owners of fishing boats are prohibited from recruiting sailors in the country, because it is obviously competing for business with the state-owned South China Sea Fishing Company and even the navy. Therefore, if Master Zhu Heng and Master Zhu really want to start their own ocean fishing business, it is necessary to recruit sailors from abroad, and this is obviously a difficult problem, which tests their network and background very much.

This fishing business must be started! After thinking about it for a long time, Master Zhu made up his mind, he still had a lot of money left, and if he went back and cheekily asked someone to make a loan, and then mobilized a few township parties to raise some money, it would not be a problem to buy two steam tuna fishing boats. The rest of the money can also be used to set up a fishery product processing workshop in Xinhua Port, using the raw materials ordered from the local production to make all kinds of canned fish products, and sell them back to the local area to make a lot of money.

But this workshop also has to recruit people, alas, it's really sad. It costs a lot of money to recruit workers from abroad, so you have to go back to the county and even the capital as soon as you finish the work of the plantations here, and pull some more people who have spare money to come here and make a fortune. New Huaxia Island is a treasure island, full of business opportunities, if you manage it well, it is really a cornucopia! (To be continued......)