Butaritari Atoll surrounds an 18-kilometer-wide lagoon. It was once the commercial center of the Albert Islands, but later the commercial center moved to Tarawa Atoll.
There are no people in Buta Atoll now. The island's main economy is plantations, fishing, and tourism.
Fishing should probably occupy the first place.
Chen Yuan doesn't know much about these small islands in the Pacific.
It takes about one hundred kilometers from the sea area where the Phalanx is deployed.
"Is the Phalanx we set up useful?" Xu Laosan said.
Chen Yuandao: "I've heard people talk about the Phalanx before. If it's done well, tens of thousands of tons of fish can be caught in one go."
"Tens of thousands of tons of fish, that's impossible, right?" Zhou Sheng said.
"I've heard people say that, but tens of thousands of tons, I feel like I'm bragging." Liu Laoer said.
Chen Yuan shrugged and said: "Ten thousand tons is not impossible."
"Hotel?" He Fei and Yang Xun were a little confused.
"It seems to be called Bikati Island. There is a resort hotel on it, which is quite large for the local area." Xu Qiang said.
"I don't know about this. But for the annual catch of purse seine operations in the Central and Western Pacific, I have seen a data before, which seems to be that the annual catch of the tuna seine boats here seems to be more than 1.6 million tons. This is a The data of several years, the public data of recent years are all greater than one million tons, reaching up to 1.8 million tons." Chen Yuandao.
"Hello." Zhou Sheng smiled, clasped his hands together, and said with a smile, "Can our yacht dock?"
"Then go up and play for two days." Chen Yuan said.
"Anyway, it is much stronger than most of the sea areas in China." Liu Laoer said: "What's more important is that there are few fishing boats here and the sea area is large."
Just this data can explain the problem very well.
"What's wrong?" Yang Xun couldn't open his eyes and looked at his phone.
"What's the name of that small island?" Chen Yuan asked, pointing to the northwest, that is, the big island on the left.
The water color is clear and transparent.
Yang Xun turned over, got up, and went out to wash his face.
"If bonito is counted as tuna..." Chen Yuan said.
"I'm going..." Liu Laoer slapped his head: "I didn't say before that I would come and play for a few days. I didn't bring any clothes."
There are two small islands in the northwest of the atoll, one large and one small.
Seine boats are relatively easy to get, but the investment is huge, and it is particularly difficult for small companies to get seine boats in.
The reception manager asked them whether they would come to stay on the island, how many people there were, how many days they would stay, and a series of questions.
Xu Qiang asked again about the cost of parking the yacht.
Chen Yuan also laughed, went back to pack two things, and went outside.
The atoll is colorful inside.
"Tens of thousands of tons of tuna?" Zhou Sheng said.
"OK."
China has a lot of outbound tourists every year. Wherever there are people, there are Chinese.
"Get up, let's go play on the island." Chen Yuandao: "Go to the hotel room to sleep."
But for longline fishing boats, looking at the previous harvests of Xu Laosan and others, we know that if they are unlucky or fail to find a large school of fish, they will make some hard-earned money.
The small island countries in the Pacific have a small landmass and a small population, but the area of their maritime exclusive economic zone is very large.
The sea water here is clear and translucent, and the corals on the seabed are so colorful that the sea water also looks colorful.
"By the way, those data only include statistics on tuna purse seine fishing vessels. Trawlers and longline fishing vessels are not included in the statistics," Chen Yuan added.
Among the major fishery resource areas in the western and central Pacific, the member states of the Nauru Agreement account for the majority.
Xu Qiang is a translator. Understanding local information, local customs and customs is the basic work of a translator.
"You bring two pieces of clothing, and we will go to the island to repair them for three days." Chen Yuan said.
"What is the total annual fishing volume of the Nauru Agreement member countries?"
Then the Central and Western Pacific occupies a large share of the global tuna industry. According to one year's data, the share of tuna and bonito accounted for 37% and 49% of the global share respectively.
Net fishing boat...
The small one seems to be a desert island. The large one is a plantation with a hotel on it...
Chen Yuan went back and woke up He Fei and Yang Xun who were still sleeping: "Get up."
White coral rocks, and occasionally some colorful living corals...
"Oh." Only then did the two of them react.
However, there are certain thresholds for fishing here, especially for tuna seine boats. The quota for purse seine boats is too small, and relatively speaking, the threshold for longline fishing boats is much lower.
He Fei opened his eyes in a daze and looked at Chen Yuan: "Have you eaten?"
There are not many foreigners who can speak Mandarin, but there are still many. However, in areas that want to develop tourism, there are not many people who can speak Mandarin among tourism practitioners.
Chen Yuan and his crew had seven people on the boat. They discussed it and planned to spend three days on the island.
"To say that resources are rich, we have to have four major fishing grounds. Here, the density of fish schools is relatively high during the migration period, but the density of fish schools during normal times is still very average." Xu Laosan said.
"You don't bring a change of clothes?" Chen Yuan asked.
"Okay." The hotel manager imitated Zhou Sheng's example and clasped his hands together.
Zhou Sheng and the others had fixed the fishing boat and were chatting and laughing, preparing to land on the island.
"More than one million tons, there is something." Zhou Sheng said.
Some of the fishing boats that come over for fishing have translators on board, while others don't.
It's just that it's not easy to distinguish the reefs on the seabed with the naked eye. Chen Yuan turned on the auxiliary radar. With the help of the radar, Dabai approached the channel opened in the lagoon and drove the Diaoyutai to the hotel pier.
The atoll has been severely eroded by sea water. There are no islands in the northern part of the atoll, only a white coral stone is left. The water here is less than 1 meter deep, and can be several meters deep...
Gillnets, and artificial longlines…
Xu Qiang stepped forward to negotiate with the other party for a few words, then turned around and said, "He can speak Chinese."
"We are coming to the island." Chen Yuan said.
"Okay." Yang Xun smiled and scratched his head.
"I don't care..."
Just like the current situation in the Kiwi country, the number of fishing boats allowed to enter is already full. As long as it does not go to popular sea areas, not a single fishing boat can be seen for dozens or even hundreds of nautical miles.
Enter the lagoon.
Chatting all the way, Chen Yuan and the others soon arrived outside Buta Atoll.
This is a simple dock.
“It’s rich in resources, so it’s awesome,” Chen Yuan said.
In this way, the hotel waived their yacht parking fees.
Under the VDS fishery management system, the number of fishing boats that can enter the exclusive fishery economic zone of each country is limited. There are also no fishing zones...
Close to the island, the lagoon is a shallow area with reefs everywhere.
There were staff on the pier who greeted me.
"Ni Hao." The aboriginal man on the horse was the reception manager of the Bikati Hotel, and he greeted them in somewhat broken Mandarin.
He Fei also got up...
If you catch up with the fish migration, you will gain even more.
Artificial fish aggregation devices are installed in places like this, and a single net can often catch dozens of tons of fish. It is not uncommon to catch hundreds of tons of fish...
From a distance, Chen Yuan saw several homemade catamaran boats, on which locals were setting fishing nets and fishing hooks.
"Wait, I'll go down and get two pieces of clothes." Zhou Sheng smiled and ran back to the cabin.
The hotel manager spoke only a little Mandarin. Xu Qiang spoke English to the other party and asked about the basic situation on the island and things to pay attention to.
This island is not big, but it has several hundred acres. In addition to hotels, there are also indigenous people on the island...
The clothes you can buy in the hotel are Hawaiian beachwear, swimwear, etc. There are nothing special to pay attention to...