Soon everything was ready and the fishing boat set sail.
Two humpback whales swam southward behind the fishing boat from a distance, while sea lions lay on the shore and watched the fishing boat leave without following.
After nearly half an hour of sailing, we could no longer see the island behind us from the deck.
"Captain, shall we cast the net?" Zhou Wang asked loudly while standing next to the winch.
Xiang Yang looked under the deck at the color of the sea water, roughly estimated the depth of the sea water, and shook his head and said, "Wait a little longer."
The fishing net used by Xiang Yang's fishing boat is a parachute-shaped trawl net, not a horizontal fishing net with heavy objects hung vertically at the bottom of the net.
The water in this sea area is too shallow, there are many hills on the seabed, and even reefs. Xiang Yang is worried that if he casts the net now, the parachute bag fishing net will be torn.
If you use a horizontal fishing net with heavy objects hanging vertically at the bottom of the net, you don't have to worry about this. If you hang a row of sharp hooks at the bottom of the net, you can even crush the reefs on the seabed.
But that kind of net is also called a family-destroying net. Not only will it catch all the sea fish, big or small, but it will also scrape the land. Wherever it goes, no grass will grow and all things will become extinct. It is even more destructive to the corals on the seabed and will fundamentally destroy the ecological environment of the ocean.
Fishing boats that use that kind of net are guilty of a heinous crime. If people find out, they will be scolded and their entire family will be exterminated. If the Ministry of Fisheries finds out, they will directly seize the boats and ban fishing.
In the early years, the inspection methods and actual operations were not the same, so fishing boats using family-killing nets were banned repeatedly. Although it has been much better in the past two years, driven by huge profits, even heavy penalties cannot eliminate the problem, and there are definitely some people who refuse to change their ways.
Xiang Yang had no control over other people's stubbornness, but he had the final say on what kind of fishing net the fishing boat under his feet used. As long as Xiang Yang was on the boat, it would never use the family-destroying net.
After sailing for a while, when the fishing boat reached the vast sea, Xiang Yang finally gave the order: "Master Zhou, set the net here."
"Okay." Zhou Wang had been waiting impatiently. Upon hearing this, he immediately operated the winch and cast the fishing net into the sea.
Zhou Wang stopped operating the winch after confirming that the fishing net had automatically spread out into a parachute shape under the traction of the fishing boat. He wiped his hands and said, "Captain, the net has been lowered. All we have to do now is wait for the fish to enter the net."
Xiang Yang nodded, "Let's take advantage of this moment to gather our strength. Everyone should hurry up when we go online."
Although Xiang Yang asked everyone to conserve their energy, most of the crew members on the deck gathered at the stern of the fishing boat, obviously looking forward to the catch of this net.
Even Xiang Yang leaned against the railing at the stern and looked out at the sea, feeling that the sea that had nurtured generations of fishermen was so vast, clean, and transparent... ...
As the sea and sky merged into one, an eagle with wings as big as a millstone spread was hovering over the fishing boat.
"Strange, how could there be an eagle on the sea?" A crew member immediately frowned.
"It's very strange. I often go out to sea, but I've never seen an eagle over the ocean before." Another crew member also said.
Xiang Yang looked up at the sky and saw a huge bird circling in the blue sky.
Because it was too far away, Xiang Yang couldn't see the specific appearance of the bird. He could only vaguely recognize it as an eagle by its appearance.
"It should be a sea eagle!" Xiang Yang explained with a smile: "There are 8 species of sea eagles in the world, and they are distributed almost all over the world. This one is flying so high that we can see it clearly. It must be a Steller's sea eagle, the largest species of sea eagle in existence."
Fang Youqun tilted his head and said, "I've only heard of bald eagles."
"The bald eagle is also huge in size, but there are no bald eagles distributed in our country. However, the habits of the Steller's sea eagle are the same as those of the bald eagle. They like to live near waters. Their food mainly consists of various fish, birds, and small animals. When there is not enough food, they will even go to the sea to catch seaweed to eat." Xiang Yang said.
"Strange." Xiang Yang frowned as he looked at the Steller's sea eagle gliding high in the sky, occasionally emitting deep and hoarse eagle calls.
"What's strange?" He Mingde asked.
Xiang Yang wondered, "Steller's sea eagles fly slowly, often gliding, circling, or standing on rocky shores for a long time. They usually move in groups in autumn and winter. Now it's autumn, how come this Steller's sea eagle flew here alone?"
"Could it be a young eagle that was just kicked out of the nest by its parents?" Fang Youqun joked.
"Maybe you are right." Xiang Yang glanced at Fang Youqun. "Many eagle species have parents who drive their chicks away. When the chicks learn to hunt, the parents will peck them fiercely and drive them out of the nest. At this time, the chicks need to go out to find territory, build nests and forage for food. Usually this period of time is the time when the mortality rate of Steller's sea eagles is the highest."
"Look, it's flying down."
I saw the Steller's sea eagle swooping down towards the sea from mid-air like a sharp arrow, with a pair of huge wings nearly two meters long spread out and tilted backwards, and two sharp claws no smaller than an adult man's palm under a pair of thick long legs were exposed and grabbing at the sea surface.
"It's going to catch fish!"
Everyone looked towards the sea area below the Steller's sea eagle.
"Um, what is it going to prey on?"
“Is this a sea sculpture or a sand sculpture?”
When everyone saw clearly what kind of sea fish was under the sea, they were all speechless. They could only say that it was indeed a fledgling.
The direction in which the Steller's sea eagle was hunting was right behind the fishing boat, where two humpback whales as big as isolated islands were chasing and playing with each other.
The crew members' faces immediately fell. How could that idiot come up with the idea of preying on humpback whales
"No." Xiang Yang's eyes became much sharper than those of ordinary people after being nourished by the jade shell. He vaguely saw that the two humpback whales under the water behind the fishing boat seemed to be hunting something. In front of the two humpback whales, there was a huge black shadow fleeing towards the fishing boat under the water.
"What's wrong?" Everyone looked at Xiang Yang with confusion.
Xiang Yang took a deep breath and said, "This Steller's sea eagle is so brave that it actually wants to compete with two humpback whales for food."
"Stealing food from humpback whales? Aren't you going to prey on humpback whales?" Upon hearing this, everyone opened their eyes wide and looked carefully.
After Xiang Yang's reminder, everyone could see it vaguely this time.
Less than twenty meters in front of the two humpback whales, there was an octopus over one meter long trying to escape for its life, with the two humpback whales chasing it relentlessly from behind.
After seeing this scene, everyone looked up at the sky in horror.
If you look closely, you will see that the end of the Steller's sea eagle's flying curve is exactly in the direction of the octopus that is desperately fleeing.
Humpback whale, the top overlord of the ocean.
Steller's golden eagle, the absolute king of the sky.
Seeing the two sides getting closer and closer, everyone's heart was in their throat.