As a Fisherman, My Fish Can Level Up
Chapter 289 - Chapter 289 Chapter 244 Giant Emperor Crab

Chapter 289: Chapter 244: Giant Emperor Crab Chapter 289: Chapter 244: Giant Emperor Crab However, Chu Mingcheng refrained from letting Noah know about his dissatisfaction with the mere five tons, for if he knew, he would definitely scold him for being greedy.

Emperor Crab is only found in Australia, with an extremely limited annual yield of just a few dozen to a hundred tons, a stark contrast to the tens of thousands of tons of Emperor Crab so commonly seen.

Therefore, his five-ton allocation was already considered quite substantial.

Under normal circumstances, there were twenty-five companies in Australia vying for these few dozen to a hundred tons.

Noah suddenly thought of something major, “OH NO! Mingcheng, I’m sorry I didn’t rent a crabbing boat for you, but this fishing boat also has a crane, so we can still manage with some smaller crab traps. If that doesn’t work for you, I can go rent a crabbing boat?”

Catching Emperor Crab, like catching Emperor Crab, involves throwing large crab traps into the water, waiting some time, and then hauling them up.

The catch completely depends on the quality of the location found.

When buying crab traps, Noah remembered the affordability of his friend’s boat rent and that Chu Mingcheng had asked for a fishing boat, so he hadn’t thought much about it until now.

“No need, this boat is quite good. I am strong enough to haul the crab traps with the crane,” Chu Mingcheng waved his hand, indicating he didn’t mind.

The crab traps, being smaller, wouldn’t be too hard for him to pull up with the aid of the crane.

Noah sighed again, “Sigh, with the crab traps being smaller, we might need to spend more time and money.”

“It’s okay, I have a quick way to catch Emperor Crabs,” Chu Mingcheng said, referring to his diving ability.

Back home, he had tried diving in the sea at a depth of two hundred meters and stayed underwater for over an hour.

Normally, divers who use scuba gear need time to adjust to the pressure when resurfacing, but Chu Mingcheng didn’t need to do so at all, he could comfortably swim and withstand most of the pressure, allowing him to quickly ascend to the surface.

Given the current weather, most Emperor Crabs live at depths around one hundred and twenty meters, which is not a problem for him at all.

The only issue would be to ascend slowly so that the Emperor Crabs have time to adjust to the pressure changes.

With the aid of the crab traps, he believed he could quickly meet his five-ton quota.

Therefore, he didn’t see a need to spend extra money on renting a crabbing boat, as the rent would have been unreasonable.

Since Chu Mingcheng had personally handled the fishing license and obtained the Emperor Crab quota, Noah believed he was a very capable person.

Therefore, although he found it odd that Chu Mingcheng rejected the idea of changing boats, he didn’t probe further.

Having rested enough in Melbourne, after obtaining the fishing license and the Emperor Crab quota, Chu Mingcheng had Noah drive them to the dock that same evening.

The boat Noah rented was a class two fishing vessel, perfectly capable of roaming around the Bath Channel, as long as they didn’t encounter strong winds.

Should there be any severe weather, the local meteorological station would broadcast warnings in advance for all vessels at sea to go ashore, so there was nothing to worry about.

The boat was sixteen meters long, with three rooms and a large common room.

Luckily, there was a captain’s bedroom, and Jiang Luoluo laid out the newly bought bedding there, where they would sleep that night.

The boat’s fuel tank held two thousand liters, with an endurance of about forty hours, a maximum speed of twenty knots, and an economical cruising speed of fifteen knots.

The boat was equipped with a seawater desalination machine, so for this sea trip, Chu Mingcheng bought several buckets of mineral water for drinking and prepared food for three days.

After boarding, he checked the fuel tank and found just over three hundred liters of fuel, so they still needed to call a fuel truck to fill up the boat.

Fuel prices in Melbourne had skyrocketed this year, currently at 2.07 Australian dollars per liter, which was much more expensive than back home.

Filling up the tank cost Chu Mingcheng over three thousand four hundred Australian dollars.

Ten crab traps cost him another two thousand Australian dollars.

From the original fifty thousand Australian dollars he had exchanged, only thirteen thousand remained.

At this moment, he deeply missed the diesel boats back home; these gasoline-powered boats were too expensive to operate at sea.

Waving goodbye to Noah, Chu Mingcheng started the fishing boat, warmed up the engine for a while, and then set off.

Holding the fishing administration’s map of the Emperor Crab distribution areas, he confirmed his destination on the navigation and chose the place closest to Melbourne.

If there were plenty of Emperor Crabs in this area, he wouldn’t need to go farther.

Unlike fish, Emperor Crabs can’t be located with a fish finder as they hide in crevices and stay still like rocks.

Chu Mingcheng didn’t know, nor had he used, whether the latest fish finders could detect them, but the finder on this boat couldn’t.

So, he had to rely on the fishing administration’s distribution map to find them and check the situation by diving.

Luckily, the shower freshwater on the boat was sufficient, unlike his own smaller boat where he had to be mindful of the freshwater tank.

If he dived too often and used up all the freshwater, then there would be no water left for showering.

Four hours later, the fishing boat reached its destination.

The closest area with Emperor Crabs, according to the map, was just over sixty nautical miles from Melbourne.

Now, at just past eight in the evening, it was still early, and Chu Mingcheng asked Jiang Luoluo to stay in the cockpit while he lowered the ten small crab traps into the water.

Each crab trap could catch approximately fifty kilograms of Emperor Crabs, and each weighed about eighty kilograms; fortunately, his current strength was sufficient to haul them up with the boat’s small crane.

Then, he changed into a diving suit, preparing to check the situation underwater.

According to the fish finder, the water was about one hundred and thirty meters deep, likely hosting Emperor Crabs.

Jiang Luoluo was unaware that Chu Mingcheng could dive to a depth of two hundred meters.

At this moment, she thought he was going to catch lobsters in the nearby waters, so she deliberately steered the boat closer to that area where the water was only about thirty meters deep.

Chu Mingcheng did not stop her or plan to reveal his deep-sea diving abilities.

Since the world record for free diving is only 214 meters deep, it might be best not to mention that he could dive to 200 meters.

Upon jumping into the water, Chu Mingcheng immediately plunged in and swam toward the location of the crab cage.

On the fish finder, a thick red line immediately appeared.

However, Jiang Luoluo, hugging the tablet and watching a TV series, didn’t notice this at all.

She was now very confident in Chu Mingcheng’s free diving capabilities, so she hardly monitored him as intently as before.

But she would still check in a little while.

Therefore, Chu Mingcheng also needed to be aware of the time and not stay underwater for too long.

The flashlight shone through the water, which was pitch black all around, and he could only hear the sound of flowing water in his ears.

If a person with a deep-sea phobia were here, they might be scared out of their wits.

But Chu Mingcheng was already accustomed to it and could even discern his bearings well, finding the rope of the crab cage.

He then quickly descended along the rope, and within just two minutes, he reached the bottom.

On the ocean floor where mud and rocks were scattered, Chu Mingcheng swam around the crab cage and was surprised to find a very large Emperor Crab crawling on the sand.

An Emperor Crab is only worth catching if it weighs over five kilograms; smaller ones are not allowed to be caught.

This Emperor Crab looked to be over fifteen kilograms, with legs as big as a basin.

When it sensed his approach, the Emperor Crab slowly raised its right claw, seemingly trying to intimidate him.

The claws of the Emperor Crab are unevenly sized, and this larger claw was as thick as his arm now.

But its movements were very slow, crawling like an old man, slowly and deliberately.

Chu Mingcheng immediately swam behind it, grabbed its carapace with both hands, and swam back to the crab cage.

Arriving at the crab cage, he noticed the bait inside had attracted some deep sea fish, which instantly scattered when he approached, leaving nothing behind.

Chu Mingcheng didn’t care about these fish. He opened the door of the crab cage, picked up the Emperor Crab from the sand again, stuffed it inside, and then closed it.

This was the purpose of the crab cage, to facilitate his diving and capturing of Emperor Crabs.

If he had to swim back to the surface every time he caught an Emperor Crab, it would not only be exhausting but also time-consuming.

With at least 500 Australian dollars in hand for success, Chu Mingcheng’s enthusiasm was ignited.

He continued to swim towards the distance, searching for more Emperor Crabs.

A little while later, he found another Emperor Crab on the sandy floor, but unfortunately, this one was somewhat small, and its carapace seemed to be just as big as a plate.

Unsure if it weighed five kilograms, Chu Mingcheng grabbed it with one hand and continued to search without returning.

Next, he found an Emperor Crab under a rock, about the same size as the one in his hand.

This one was a bit tricky to catch, as Chu Mingcheng couldn’t sneak up from behind.

Looking at the Emperor Crab in his hand, his eyes lit up.

Putting down the Emperor Crab in his hand, he grabbed the claws with both hands. Then he stretched the larger claw into the crevice, letting the crabs inside try to clamp it.

The Emperor Crab inside immediately became aggressive, snapping its claws wildly.

Soon, the Emperor Crab inside clamped onto the claw Chu Mingcheng had extended, while the crab in his hand also tightened its grip, clamping each other.

Seizing the opportunity, he immediately pulled out the Emperor Crab from inside and then grabbed each crab in his hands and swam back.

When Chu Mingcheng returned to the first crab cage’s location, he unexpectedly found another Emperor Crab that had been attracted by the bait outside the cage.

This one was even larger than the Emperor Crab inside the cage, probably weighing over fifteen kilograms.

It wanted to eat the bait but couldn’t find the correct entrance, frantically crawling around outside.

When Chu Mingcheng approached, it was startled, hastily lifting its claws and beginning to retreat.

He didn’t immediately catch this Emperor Crab but first placed the two in his hands into the crab cage, and then he chased after the slowly escaping Emperor Crab, grabbed it, and stuffed it into the cage.

The crab cage was a bit small; after placing this Emperor Crab inside, it left the few crabs already there packed tightly together, completely lacking space to move.

These four Emperor Crabs together weighed almost forty kilograms, and there was still room for two smaller ones in the corner, but Chu Mingcheng paid no more attention to this cage and proceeded to the location of the second crab cage.

The distance between each crab cage was about twenty meters, and it took him a little while to locate the second one.

This crab cage’s situation exasperated him a bit, as it just happened to fall on a somewhat round rock, then slid down and stood upright on the sandy floor, causing one entrance to be blocked, while the other entrances were not accessible by the crabs.

If he hadn’t come, even if there were more Emperor Crabs around this cage, it would remain empty.

He first positioned the crab cage properly, then resumed his search for Emperor Crabs.

The next moment, he released a few bubbles from his mouth. If someone were nearby, they would have heard him curse, “Damn”.

Because right in front of him was a massive Emperor Crab, as big as a bathtub.

Although it didn’t break the record of 72 kilograms, it definitely weighed over forty kilograms, which was just a conservative estimate from him.

Chu Mingcheng immediately swam over and picked up this Emperor Crab.

It felt quite heavy in his grasp because he couldn’t determine the exact weight at the bottom of the sea, so he began to swim slowly towards the surface with the Emperor Crab.

Such a large Emperor Crab, the cage definitely couldn’t accommodate it.