The Fish I Catch Can Level Up

Chapter 241: Non-commercial Fishing License

Chapter 241: Non-commercial Fishing License

The Fish I Catch Can Level Up

The two arrived at the restaurant and assumed the hotel only offered Western-style breakfast, but discovered there was also a Chinese section—even rice noodle rolls were available.

Jiang Luoluo was pleasantly surprised and decided to try some of the Chinese options.

Western food always seemed the same. Chu Mingcheng was equally surprised that a foreign hotel would serve a Chinese breakfast. Curious about how these items would taste, he grabbed rice noodle rolls, soup dumplings, and a few other dishes.

They carried their trays to a table and noticed many other Asian faces around them. The Chinese breakfast was clearly meant to accommodate Chinese tourists, which immediately raised Chu Mingcheng's opinion of the hotel several notches.

If it weren't so remote, he wouldn't mind staying longer.

After breakfast, with time slipping away, Chu Mingcheng checked out, called a taxi, and headed for the city center. The bus here only ran once every half hour—he'd rather spend a little more money for convenience.

Once downtown, they chose a hotel by the sea, next to a large park. Although they'd only been here a day, both Chu Mingcheng and Jiang Luoluo were already taken with the city.

The environment was truly wonderful, and the temperature pleasant. Summer highs barely exceeded thirty degrees, and the large diurnal temperature range kept nights comfortable.

The only unfortunate thing was that it was a foreign country. If a similar place existed in China, they would definitely buy a house and settle there long-term.

After checking into the hotel and stowing their luggage, the two set out to visit various tourist attractions. They spent several days sightseeing, changing hotels three times.

Finally, they arrived at Mornington Beach. B&Bs were popular in Mornington, so Chu Mingcheng booked a holiday cottage owned by a landlady named Dimona.

Mornington Beach was only eleven kilometers from Melbourne's city center, and since Chu Mingcheng had rented a car, getting there was convenient.

The Mornington Peninsula had many interesting places to visit, including the Ashcombe Maze and Lavender Gardens, which Jiang Luoluo was particularly eager to see.

As for Chu Mingcheng, his attention was naturally drawn to the Mornington Peninsula Hot Springs and the abundant abalone population living along the Mornington coast.

Men loved seafood and never tired of it.

"Luoluo, it's already two in the afternoon. How about we go diving for abalone and have a big abalone feast tonight?"

"Don't we need a license to catch abalone?"

"We do, but a non-commercial fishing license is easy to get. Let's go right now."

They left their luggage at the B&B without bothering to unpack, got back in the car, and headed to the local fisheries authority.

The prices for non-commercial fishing licenses varied across different Australian regions. Melbourne was in Victoria, and Victoria's non-commercial fishing licenses offered four time options: three days, twenty-eight days, one year, and three years.

The longer the duration, the better the value. Considering they probably wouldn't be in Melbourne for more than a month, Chu Mingcheng bought two twenty-eight-day licenses at twenty-one Australian dollars each, for a total of forty-two.

Next, catching abalone required a diving suit that met local regulations. Neither of them had brought their diving suits from home—it would have meant an extra suitcase, which was too much trouble.

Although Chu Mingcheng didn't have as much money now as before, he still had over 1.2 million in savings before leaving. After exchanging fifty thousand Australian dollars, he had just over a million left in his account.

He couldn't afford a house in downtown Xiamen, but could he not afford two diving suits?

After spending four thousand Australian dollars on two diving suits, they also needed a ruler to measure the abalone. There were three types of abalone at Mornington Beach: greenlip abalone, blacklip abalone, and tiger abalone.

Greenlip abalone had to be larger than thirteen centimeters, while the other two had to exceed twelve centimeters. Patrols were always present on the beach, checking for fishing licenses and inspecting the size of caught abalone at any time.

If the abalone didn't meet the standard, you'd be fined and required to release it.

They also had to buy an abalone tool. This tool was very blunt and wouldn't harm the abalone when prying it off. Sharp objects like diving knives and screwdrivers were prohibited to avoid injuring the abalone, especially undersized specimens.

In short, there were many restrictions on getting seafood here.

Chu Mingcheng thought that with China's vast sea territory, if regulations could be as strict as Australia's, people in coastal cities wouldn't need to buy seafood so often. On their days off, they could just go foraging by the sea and enjoy a seafood feast. How great would that be?

Unfortunately, China couldn't achieve that.

With all their gear purchased, the two arrived at Mornington Beach. A row of colorful wooden huts lined the shore. As they approached with their diving equipment, they spotted a few Asian-looking influencers taking photos.

You didn't need to guess—they were clearly Chinese influencers. Chu Mingcheng and Jiang Luoluo had encountered many of them while visiting attractions over the past few days.

What was interesting was that these minor celebrities would take a few photos, share them, and their "value" would immediately skyrocket back in China.

The two were used to it by now. They chose a hut at the edge, opened the door, and went inside.

Inside, they found beach toys—surfboards, swim rings, and the like. These were provided for tourists by the wooden huts, which also served as changing rooms.

They changed clothes, put their fishing licenses in waterproof bags, and wore them around their necks. In Australia, whether fishing or diving for seafood, you had to have your license on you at all times for inspection.

Arriving at the beach, they could see a few diving tourists surfacing with palm-sized abalone. Many people were catching abalone at Mornington, but the port of Melbourne itself had even more—so many that there were almost no abalone left to catch.

That's why Chu Mingcheng hadn't considered it during their time in Melbourne.

The two entered the water from the beach hand-in-hand, then swam along the surface, gradually moving toward deeper areas.

Catching abalone was only allowed in water deeper than two meters; otherwise, you'd be fined. Two local fisheries officers in uniform were patrolling the beach.

When Chu Mingcheng and Jiang Luoluo entered the water, the two officers watched them for a long time, clearly keeping an eye on them. Fortunately, they had all their documents and were following the rules, so they weren't worried about being watched.

He pulled Jiang Luoluo along, swimming until they reached a shallow reef area over a hundred meters from shore before stopping. The water here was about six or seven meters deep, and a little farther out, it reached about ten meters. Ordinary tourists wouldn't swim this far to catch abalone, so Chu Mingcheng was likely to find some large ones.

"Luoluo, you look for big abalone here. I'm going to check out the nearby seabed and see if there are any lobsters."

"Okay, then tonight's seafood feast is all on you."

"Haha, as long as there's good stuff here, I guarantee I can get it."

The water was shallow here, and he had been the one to pull Jiang Luoluo over, so he could safely leave her for a short time.

Jiang Luoluo had now practiced twenty-one times. Her dynamic apnea time had just passed two minutes, and she could already dive to a depth of twenty meters. Finding a few large abalone in such shallow water would be easy for her.

Chu Mingcheng plunged into the water and began wandering the seabed.

The coastal waters of Australia looked clear and transparent from above, but once underwater, visibility was only about ten meters.

Upon entering the water, Chu Mingcheng was pleasantly surprised. There were quite a lot of abalone on the seabed, and the seaweed was dense with many rocks. On the sides of these rocks, large abalone were attached.

But Chu Mingcheng's target wasn't these for now. When diving for abalone, one license allowed you to catch five at a time. They didn't need that many for dinner tonight—he was confident Jiang Luoluo could handle it.

However, if you rented a boat to go out to sea for abalone, one boat, regardless of the number of people, could only catch ten. This was the restriction of the non-commercial fishing license.

With his cheat ability, Chu Mingcheng could naturally get a commercial fishing license, but as he'd considered before, who would he sell his catch to? Would it sell well? Would he get ripped off? It could even provoke hostility from local fishermen, who might cause him trouble.

A foreigner coming to take a piece of the pie—the local fishermen would definitely not be happy. This kind of situation even happened within China, let alone abroad.

That's why he was waiting for Noah to arrive. With a local around, these troubles would naturally be eliminated. The most that would happen is that Noah would get a share of the profits, which was only fair.

Successful businessmen all understood cooperation and mutual benefit. No matter how foolish Chu Mingcheng was, he wouldn't act recklessly.

He began searching for Australian lobsters in the crevices of nearby reefs. The catching season for Australian lobsters was similar to that for Giant Tasmanian King Crab.

The only restrictions were that you couldn't catch berried female lobsters, and the lobster's head had to be longer than eleven centimeters, with females allowed to be half a centimeter shorter. You could only catch lobsters with your bare hands—no tools allowed.

Although there were restrictions, they didn't affect Chu Mingcheng. He always preferred to catch large seafood anyway. Back in China, he would release any smaller specimens, so these restrictions were meaningless to him.

The no-tools rule wasn't a problem either. If others could catch them bare-handed, with his cheat ability, it was even less of an issue.

After a short while, he discovered a lobster hiding in a rock crevice. He reached in, pressed down on the lobster, then gently pulled it out, avoiding too much force to prevent injury.

This lobster wasn't very large. Chu Mingcheng had intended to release it directly, but since he'd just bought the calipers and hadn't used them, he decided to follow local customs and measure the lobster's head.

Nine-point-seven centimeters. Just a little short of the required size. Chu Mingcheng released his grip and let it go. The Australian lobster flicked its tail and shot away with a whoosh.

He then swam over to check on Jiang Luoluo.

When she saw him coming, she happily held up an abalone larger than her palm with a smile. "Impressive, right? This one is big enough for both of us."

Chu Mingcheng noticed a circle of green on the abalone's flesh. "This is a greenlip abalone, right? I didn't expect it to grow so big."

"That's right. I'm going to pry off two more of the other kinds now. How's your lobster catching going?"

"I found one, but it was a bit small. I'll keep looking. I have to catch a big one tonight."

"Okay, go for it."

This time, Chu Mingcheng swam even farther and found an underwater reef cluster. This place was ideal. Unlike the abalone spot, where the bottom was sandy and not suitable for lobsters to hide, this rocky area was perfect.

After searching for a short while, he soon discovered a super-large lobster, estimated to weigh five or six jin. For a lobster of this size, there was no need for a ruler—just catch it.