After Xiang Yang told Gao Chuang about his concerns, Gao Chuang remained silent.
In fact, Gao Chuang was also very hesitant.
The deeper the fleet sailed into the Weddell Sea, the more floating ice there was.
Now when Xiang Yang looked around, he could hardly see any sea water around him. The entire sea surface was like a broken eggshell, with small pieces of floating ice everywhere, and occasionally a very huge piece of ice.
The fleet sailed in the Weddell Sea as if it were passing through the cracks between broken eggshells.
"We can't go any further, otherwise we won't even be able to turn around." Xiang Yang whispered to Gao Chuang on the intercom.
Nowadays, every meter the fleet moves forward, a fishing boat will collide with some small pieces of ice, making a huge roar.
Soon, Gao Chuang compromised, "Well, this situation is indeed not suitable for the fleet to continue moving forward. Let's stop here first and wait for two days to see the wind direction before making further plans."
Xiang Yang heaved a sigh of relief when he heard this. He was afraid that Gao Chuang, the stubborn old man, would get angry at this critical moment.
Based on Xiang Yang's experience, if the fleet continues to move forward with this amount of floating ice, it will most likely be trapped.
If Gao Chuang insisted on sailing forward, Xiang Yang would have to think about whether he should leave the fleet and return alone.
Because of the large amount of floating ice, the fleet's speed was not fast, so it was not difficult to stop.
Soon, the fleet stopped in a large piece of floating ice that was connected end to end.
Fang Youqun walked to the bow and took a look under the side of the ship. "Fuck, there are so many floating ice. Will our fishing boat be able to turn around?"
Xiang Yang held a thermos cup in both hands, took a sip silently, and then looked at Xu Fang beside him.
Xu Fang's brows first frowned, then slowly relaxed, "It's no problem, Captain. The floating ice on the sea looks huge and scary, but in fact, they are not big. As long as our ship does not continue to move deeper into the southern continent, this little bit of floating ice will not trap us."
Xiang Yang nodded, "Always pay attention to the changes in the ice on the water surface, and don't be careless."
"Don't worry, Captain. Even if you don't tell me, I will keep an eye on it." Chen Qingsheng said with a smile.
Xiang Yang nodded, then went directly through the probe board to Gao Chuang's ocean-going processing mothership, found Gao Chuang, and discussed with him what to do next.
Gao Chuang was directing the people on the boat to sink things that looked like earth traps into the sea one by one.
Seeing Xiang Yang coming over, Gao Chuang asked in surprise: "Xiang Yang, we finally arrived in the Weddell Sea. Why are you here instead of fishing on the boat?"
Xiang Yang glanced at the bottom of the water. "Most of the fishery resources under this sea area are Antarctic krill. We have already caught a lot of them on our boat."
"How much is that? How dare you say it's a lot?"
Gao Chuang smiled and shook his head. "Don't underestimate these small shrimps. In the Weddell Sea, the number of Antarctic krill is greater than the total grain production in the world."
In 2019, the world's total grain output was only 2.722 billion tons, including wheat, barley, rice, corn, soybeans, mung beans, sorghum and millet, as well as sweet potatoes and other grain products.
However, the krill reserves in the Weddell Sea are conservatively estimated to be over 5 billion tons, which is twice the world's total grain output. If the total amount of krill is put into the entire Antarctic, it is likely to exceed 10 billion tons, which is four times the world's total grain reserves.
Xiang Yang shook his head and said, "After all, these are not valuable seafood. It would be useless to catch too many and bring them back."
Although Antarctic krill has a high nutritional value, with a protein content of over 50%, far exceeding any grain crop, and a high content of vitamin A and astaxanthin, Antarctic krill is extremely valuable for development and is recognized worldwide as the future granary of mankind.
But no matter what, Antarctic krill are not valuable at this time.
Xiang Yang felt that it was not worthwhile to travel such a long distance and risk being trapped in the Weddell Sea with both the ship and the people to catch a boatload of krill that were not very valuable.
"That's because you don't understand the value of Antarctic krill resources, otherwise you wouldn't say that," Gao Chuang said.
Xiang Yang raised his eyebrows when he heard this, "Is there any other way to say this?"
"Um."
Gao Chuang nodded and said, "At present, countries around the world are paying more and more attention to the potential and utilization of Antarctic krill. Even the Russians, who had announced that they would give up Antarctic krill fishing, have turned their attention to Antarctic krill again this year."
Xiang Yang nodded. He knew about this. In May of this year, the Russian Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography sent more than a dozen experts to the Antarctic waters to survey Antarctic krill in order to pave the way for future large-scale fishing.
It is said that Russia's largest aquatic product company is preparing to spend huge amounts of money in Antarctica this year, planning to catch more than $600 million worth of Antarctic krill.
Gao Chuang patted Xiang Yang on the shoulder and said, "Nowadays, my country is also paying more and more attention to the potential value of Antarctic krill. All capable countries in the world have begun to share this almost free cake, but my country, as one of the capable countries, has not done enough in this regard."
Xiang Yang nodded. This was true. my country's fishing industry started late, caught less fish, and was indeed not as well-equipped as those developed fishing countries.
"Therefore, our country, which has realized that krill resources are very important for future food sources, food security and national nutrition, attaches great importance to the fishing of Antarctic krill," said Gao Chuang.
Xiang Yang immediately became serious when he heard this.
As the saying goes, every man is responsible for the rise and fall of his country. Although Xiang Yang is just a small fisherman, he is not so ignorant of the overall situation.
If krill resources are really a resource that is valued at the national level, Xiang Yang will bring back a large boatload even if it means losing money.
Gao Chuang took out his phone from his pocket, opened a document and handed it to Xiang Yang. "The current international annual allowable catch of Antarctic krill is 6.2 million tons. Blue whales, penguins, water birds and fish eat about 300 million tons of Antarctic krill every year, but Antarctic krill resources are still very abundant. Some biologists even believe that Antarctic krill is a bug in the food chain on Earth."
Xiang Yang carefully recalled the several times he had seen krill underwater.
The densely packed Antarctic krill are like a hornet's nest, with almost no end in sight.
Once, Xiang Yang stood on the deck and looked under the water. A large group of orange-red Antarctic krill looked like a red lava river, seemingly endless.