It would be a lie if Xiang Yang said he was not tempted at all when faced with a treasure.
But it is impossible for Xiang Yang to lead people down to search for the sunken ship like this.
Are you kidding? This is within the territorial waters.
No one would blame Xiang Yang if he kept the three copper coins picked up by the Steller's sea eagle, but if he went to look for and salvage them openly on the boat, he was guaranteed to be invited to have tea the next day after he returned.
Once something like this is done, it will be impossible to hide it.
"Brother Yang, the copper plate has been cleaned."
"Oh, I'm done washing."
Fang Youqun's words pulled Xiang Yang out of his thoughts. He calmly took the box of copper coins from Fang Youqun and silently memorized the location of this sea area. "Okay, thanks."
Fang Youqun didn't notice anything wrong with Xiang Yang. He asked casually, "Brother Yang, after we finish dragging the net, do you want to go down to the bottom of the sea and take a look?"
Xiang Yang laughed and said, "Why, are you addicted to diving?"
Fang Youqun smiled sheepishly and said, "I just felt bored staying on the boat all the time, so I wanted to go down and take a look."
In fact, staying on the boat all the time being bored was just an excuse. Fang Youqun and other crew members were really addicted to diving because they could get a relatively generous reward every time they dived, while staying on the deck would get them nothing. However, the work was no easier than diving. Zhou Wang would raise the net every hour or so, and then it was their job to clean the fish. Although the work did not require any technical skills, it was really tiring.
Xiang Yang thought about it. Diving fishing has always been his main way of making money. When the crew members took the initiative to propose diving fishing, he would not refuse the crew members and thus discourage their enthusiasm. However, this sea area is now... too barren. Xiang Yang looked at the seabed through the mysterious jade shell. Although he saw a lot of fish swimming in the water layer, there were large areas of exposed sea sand under this sea area. There were not many scallops and plankton, and even the aquatic plants were not very lush. There were no coral reefs on the seabed. It is easy to imagine what the seabed fishery resources in such a sea area are like.
"Let's cast a few more nets." Xiang Yang said with a smile, "We have cast so many nets this time but haven't caught any valuable fish. We must catch a decent fish."
"Oh." Fang Youqun nodded, "I hope this will be a great harvest."
Xiang Yang took out his cell phone and checked the time. He thought that the net had been going on for so long that it should be about time to catch more fish, so he said, "Won't we know whether the harvest is good or not after we close the net and see?"
"Master Zhou, raise the net." Xiang Yang walked to the winch and said to Zhou Wang.
"OK." Zhou Wang coughed and skillfully operated the winch with one hand to raise the net.
It was not the first time for Xiang Yang or Zhou Wang to see this winch used to pull up the net. As soon as they heard the sound of the winch turning, they knew roughly how many fish were caught in this net.
Zhou Wang's face was filled with disappointment. He said, "Captain, it seems that we didn't catch much seafood this time."
"We won't know whether we have caught any fish until we pull the net up." Xiang Yang didn't care. He didn't care much about the number of sea fish when fishing. He was more concerned about what kind of sea fish were caught in the fishing net. If it was a fish like saury, a net full of them would not be as valuable as a bluefin tuna.
The winch turned, and the steel chisel pulled the fishing net up from the seabed at a very uniform speed.
"Huh? What is this?" Chen Qingsheng, who was standing at the stern and looking forward to it, was the first to show surprise on his face.
There was a trace of astonishment on Xiang Yang's face. It was because Xiang Yang only caught one fish with this net, but the fish was very big, about six or seven meters long, like a small monster.
"This fish looks so weird." Fang Youqun wondered, "Its back looks like a shark, but why does its mouth look like this?"
"Yes, this is a shark." Xiang Yang first confirmed Fang Youqun's guess, and then said: "This fish is a very ferocious species of shark. Its name is also called sawfish. It is a very agile and ferocious fish. However, it is still somewhat different from ordinary sharks. The biggest difference between it and sharks is that its protruding snout in front of its head is long and sharp, and there are sawtooth-like spikes on both sides of the snout. They are also like overlords in the seabed. When they rush around, even tiger sharks dare not provoke them easily."
Fang Youqun looked at the sawfish, especially the sharp spikes on its mouth, and suddenly felt a chill all over his body. With this guy rushing around in such a majestic manner, not only would the tiger shark be afraid, but he would also be afraid just by looking at it.
"Captain, it's bad. Our fishing nets have been torn by it." At this time, Zhou Wang suddenly said with an ugly expression.
"Huh?" Buying a new fishing net is not cheap, Xiang Yang hurriedly looked at the fishing net.
Just one glance and Xiang Yang's face turned extremely ugly.
Sure enough, the fishing net was torn into strips at the head of the sawfish, with several holes the size of a football hole appearing.
"I see." Xiang Yang sighed, "It seems that this net didn't just catch the sawfish. It's just that the other sea fish were relatively small and escaped through the holes in the net. On the contrary, the sawfish that had several large holes torn in the net was unable to escape through the holes because of its large size."
"If you dare to tear up our fishing nets, we will use its flesh to pay off the debt later." Fang Youqun said ferociously.
Xiang Yang glanced at Fang Youqun and said nothing.
The economic value of sawfish is much higher than that of ordinary sharks. Not only is its meat delicious, but its fins can also be used to make shark fins. The skin of sawfish is also a special-grade product for making leather and scabbards, and its liver can be made into the best cod liver oil.
Precisely because of its extremely high economic role, it has become the target of many fishermen. In the early years, it was killed in large numbers by fishermen for huge profits. Therefore, sawfish has basically disappeared from many places in recent years. This is a protected fish with extremely high protection levels in all countries around the world.
"What? Why aren't you talking?" Fang Youqun looked at everyone and asked.
Xiang Yang sighed and said, "This fish is called a sawfish. I read a news report about it some time ago. In a report in the New York Post on January 27, 2020, a 38-year-old commercial fisherman in Florida sawed off the mouth of a sawfish and threw it back into the sea. On January 23, 2020, local time, the fisherman was sentenced to two years in prison, a fine of $2,000, and 80 hours of compulsory community service."