20 days after Japan's forced ranking: eel prices fall by more than 60% as fishermen worry about their livelihoods
Source: Times Finance Author: Wang Yingling
At 3 p.m. on September 8, the sun was shining, and the smell of the sea on the pier was overwhelming, which for Zhen Li was the taste of harvest. She arrived at the pier early to wait for her fishing boat, which was her second return to port after opening the sea.
The opening of the sea on September 1 every year is the day Zhen Li looks forward to the most. But this time, she had an extra layer of worry, "Worry, nuclear sewage will definitely have an impact on us." ”
But how big the specific impact, Zhen Li can't tell.
At noon local time on September 11, the first round of discharge of contaminated water from Japan's Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was completed, discharging a total of 7,788 tons of nuclear water into the Pacific Ocean. More than half a month ago, on August 24, Japan officially discharged nuclear-contaminated water into the ocean, with plans to discharge it for 30 years.
Undoubtedly, the first to be affected are those who "eat by the sea".
According to data released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the total economic output value of China's fishery in 2022 will be 3.087314 billion yuan, of which the output value of marine aquaculture will be 463.884 billion yuan, China's marine fishing output value will be 248.891 billion yuan, and more than 1 million fishermen will be engaged in marine fishing.
From the custom of boarding a ship to verbal avoidance, people who seek from the sea and live by the sea are always cautious, and they are cautious and in awe in the face of the vast ocean. Nuclear sewage, on the other hand, casts another shadow over the unpredictable ocean, and some people worry about it, while others try to forget.
Weihai, Shandong, Rushankou Port, photo by Wang Yingling, Times Finance
"There are both distant and near-term worries"
On September 1, the Yellow Bohai Sea north of 35 degrees north latitude ended a four-month fishing moratorium, and fishing boats went out to fish. In the Jiaodong Peninsula of Shandong, along the coastline, there are large and small fishing ports, and Rushankou Port in Weihai is one of them.
The fishing boats here are mainly fishing in the near sea, and they can return to port in the early evening, and the distant ones take three or four days or even a week, and the main catches include mackerel, ribbon fish, yellow croaker, prawns, climbing shrimp, crabs, conch and so on.
The time when the boats return to port is variable, and the warehouse is full, so no matter what time of day you go to the pier, you can always see busy fishermen returning to port.
On September 8, at about 3 p.m., Zhen Li's fishing boat landed. The fishing boat returned to port once in three or four days, the second time since the sea opened, the captain was Zhen Li's husband, and there were five crew members, and the cabin was full of frozen shrimp and striped fish.
Zhen Li's fishing boat docked, photo by Times Finance Wang Yingling
After the ship docked, the engine of the conveyor belt roared, and boxes of fish and shrimp were transported ashore. The crew then dumped all the fish and shrimp on the large table on the pier, and handed it over to the villagers to sort the fish and shrimp.
Such a simple and time-consuming work supports more than 100 villagers, most of whom are elderly people over 60 years old, "working once in three or four days, four or five hours at a time, and earning 12 yuan an hour." ”
Villagers sorting fish and shrimp, photo by Times Finance Wang Yingling
Zhen Li's boat is not big, it is a fiberglass boat, does not catch big fish, and mainly shrimp. "Men go to sea, women weave nets" is a traditional pattern of local fishermen, also known as "husband and wife boats". Her husband is responsible for going to sea, while Zhen Li handles the tallying, sales, accounting, personnel scheduling, and repairing fishing nets on the shore.
The livelihood of a family, betting on a boat, a family of fishermen like Zhen Li, united but fragile, does not tolerate any accidents.
Faced with uncontrollable nuclear sewage, Zhen Li has both distant and near-term worries.
She is worried that by next year, nuclear sewage will really affect the growth of fish and shrimp in the sea, and then affect the production of fish, and she is even more worried that no one dares to eat seafood. ”
In addition to the unpredictable next year, more directly, this year's catch prices have already been affected. In addition to shrimp, Zhen's fishing boat also catches a small amount of moray eel, which is mainly exported to Japan. The fishmonger who collected the fish told her that the export demand for eel had fallen, so the price could only be lowered.
"In the past, moray eels could be sold for 15 or 16 yuan a catty, and 20 yuan in good times, but now fishmongers only collect fish for four or five yuan a pound." The gap was worlds apart, Zhen Li sighed.
"What's the point of having such a high cost and pulling goods that are worthless?" Zhen Li's voice was smiling, but her eyes were a little red. She calculated an account, "I used a smaller wooden boat before, this boat was bought with a loan of 1 million yuan 8 years ago, and it has just been repaid in the past few years; Before going to sea this year, it cost more than 100,000 yuan on maintenance alone; Five crew members, one crew member's salary is 18,000 yuan a month, the odd work of sorting fish and shrimp costs 6,000 yuan each time, and the money for the oil and equipment burned on the ship is all expenses. ”
As a captain, Zhen Li's husband has no time to worry, he just wants to go to sea more and gain more before the change occurs. After opening the sea, he did not even have time to go home and rest, and the ship only docked once in three or four days, docked for only two or three hours, unloaded, sorted out fishing nets, refueled, and replenished living supplies, and then left the port in a hurry. Only when there are winds and waves that cannot go to sea do you have to give yourself a holiday.
Unlike Zhen Li's "husband and wife boat" model, Sun Tong's business has been doing even bigger, and since six years ago, she and her husband have successively purchased six large iron boats and a smaller harvesting boat, a total of seven boats, mainly to catch mackerel.
Boxes of mackerel are transported ashore through a conveyor belt, photo by Wang Yingling, Times Finance
The fishing volume is larger, requiring two boats to operate at the same time, six boats in pairs, operating at sea all year round, except for wind and waves never return to port, harvesting boats become transit stations, carrying the catch back to port once a day.
After deducting various costs, a ship can create a value of about 200,000 yuan a year. But the cost is also huge, the crew and captain are hired, there are 6 to 7 people on each ship, only from September to the New Year in the 5 months, a captain's salary is 200,000 yuan, and the crew is more than 100,000 yuan. Before going to sea this year, it cost more than 500,000 yuan to repair six ships.
After opening the sea, Sun Tong wakes up at 5 a.m. every day and goes to the dock to wait for the harvest boat to return, and with her are empty trucks from wholesalers. Early on the morning of September 9, as soon as the boat landed, Sun Tong began to spin continuously, and the number of wholesalers who came to her to buy fish did not decrease, "no different from previous years." ”
Bayfish is a common homemade ingredient, and Shandong people's tables are inseparable from mackerel dumplings, which in Sun Tong's view may be the reason why they are less affected, "Nuclear sewage has no effect on us for the time being." Sun Tong's answer was very brief, her energy was focused on the account books in her hand and the negotiations with the fishmonger, and she didn't have time to worry about anything else, "I don't want to worry so much, first get busy with daily things." ”
Sun Tong is busy on the dock, photo by Times Finance Wang Yingling
However, Sun Tong is also afraid of uncertainty at sea. "Can you get on board and take a look?" "Don't get on board! Women can't get on the boat, and I haven't been there. It is a local custom for women not to go to the boat or go to sea, and Sun Tong can't say why, but in order to avoid any risks at sea, she prefers to comply.
Two-thirds fewer people buy seafood
The same concerns are spreading downstream in the chain.
At four o'clock in the afternoon of September 9, customers occasionally passed by Chen Hui's stall, and Chen Hui immediately solicited business, "Buy shrimp, 100 pieces and three catties." "This is the largest seafood market in Rushan, and hundreds of stall owners, like Chen Hui, are eagerly waiting for customers to arrive.
The seafood market in Rushan is rich in varieties after opening the sea, photo by Times Finance Wang Yingling
"Now it's good to be able to see people in threes and twos, and many times a few days ago they couldn't even see people, and they were the same as before." Chen Hui said that after the opening of the sea on September 1 in previous years, it was the peak season of local seafood in Rushan, and both locals and tourists rushed to taste this "first fresh": "This year, there are at least two-thirds fewer people than before, and after the discharge of nuclear sewage, many people dare not buy seafood, less than when the epidemic occurred in the previous two years." ”
Chen Hui's stall, which mainly sells shrimp, crabs and sea intestines, has been engaged in aquatic production since she was 20 years old, and now she is 35 years old, admitting that "this is the hardest year for business in 15 years." ”
"Usually it is purchased early in the morning, and when it is good to sell before, it will be sold out at noon or one or two o'clock in the afternoon and can be closed." At 4 p.m. that day, there were still many live prawns swimming in the water at Chen Hui's stall, "If this continues, it will have a great impact on us." ”
Compared to Chen Hui, Aunt Wang's stall is further inside, and there are fewer customers passing by, she sits on a chair, looking at her stall full of sea fish in a daze. On the afternoon of August 24, Aunt Wang and the stall owners paid special attention, guarding the live broadcast and confiding in each other, "Everyone was very worried, angry and sad. ”
Aunt Wang's sea fish stall, photo by Times Finance Wang Yingling
Aunt Wang is nearly 60 years old and has been selling fish in this market for nearly 20 years. Every year, what she looks forward to most is also the months after the opening of the sea, "After the opening of the sea, the flow of people is large, the variety of fish is more, and then the National Day and New Year, which is the best time of the year for business." "When the sea was not open, during the four-month fishing moratorium from May to September, Aunt Wang only sold some aquaculture products, but her business was average, and she could only basically maintain the stall fee of 20,000 a year. More vendors in the market give themselves a holiday if they don't sell farmed fish during the fishing moratorium.
In the first 20 years, Aunt Wang's husband was responsible for purchasing goods, she kept the stall, and her life was dull, she couldn't calculate how much money she made every year, she only felt that the market was the best before 2019, and since the epidemic, the business has gradually faded. This year's business is even lighter, "only half of the incoming goods, I am afraid that I will not sell out."
Aunt Wang, who can't calculate the specific profit, is now particularly sensitive to a number, 240.
After the nuclear sewage is discharged into the sea, according to the model of Tsinghua University, the time when the pollutants reach Chinese waters, "after 240 days, if the pollution does come, I really don't know what to do." ”
"Oh, eat for a few more days, we won't dare to eat (seafood)", a few days ago, an old lady passed by Aunt Wang's stall, and the self-talk in her mouth was captured by Aunt Wang, confirming her concern, "It's helpless, she is telling the truth, but I sound very uncomfortable." ”
"We rely on the sea to eat the sea here", Aunt Wang said, Weihai Rushan is still a famous tourist city in Shandong, the local seaview house price is also extremely low, tens of thousands of yuan can buy a set, spawned a lot of tourism, house purchase, health care demand, "When the pollution is over, who will come to the beach to play?" Who still comes to the beach to buy a house? ”
Weihai Rushan Silver Beach Resort, photo by Wang Yingling of Times Finance
Xu Na is a "newcomer" in the market, resigned 3 years ago to start a business, opened a fishery shop, mainly engaged in all kinds of marine fish and shrimp, in her opinion, this year after the opening of the sea is indeed less than in previous years, but not necessarily because of nuclear sewage.
"The first two months were the summer vacation, and there were many tourists who came to Weihai to play, and everyone said 'go into Zi to catch up with the barbecue, enter Weihai to catch the sea', and after opening the sea, it was just in time for the end of the holiday, and the tourists left." At the same time, after the opening of the sea, the competition for selling seafood has also increased, and customers have been further diverted, "supermarkets, small markets, vendors, micro-merchant group buying have begun to sell seafood, and some customers go directly to the dock to buy it," Xu said.
In addition, the passenger flow after the opening of the sea this year is less than the same period after the opening of the sea in previous years, Xu Na believes that it is because of the epidemic in previous years, "many small markets were not open during the epidemic, and customers came to our big market to buy." ”
As a tourist, Qiu Ming feels the same as Xu Na.
On September 10, she went to Qingdao to play, "I originally came to the beach for the last time to play, but after I came, I found that many people did not talk about it, there are still many people in the seaside attractions and seafood stalls, maybe everyone is really slowly forgetting." ”
Qingdao Qinyu Road, still full of tourists, Times Finance Wang Yingling photo
In Xu Na's view, with the passage of time, everyone's hidden worries about nuclear sewage have gradually been covered by busy daily life.
"At first, a lot of people in the market were worried, and some people wanted to change careers, but now it seems that this is over." As for changing careers, Xu Na said, "Let's take one step at a time, I can't say stop and stop." ”
(The interviewees in the article are pseudonyms)