You have to live by the sea.

On the afternoon of August 31, fishermen in Guangludao Town, Changhai, Dalian moved the dried fishing nets to the boat. All afternoon, he was busy at the dock, "preparing water and oil, fishing nets and materials." The next day, Lao Cheng’s two fishing boats, which have been moored for nearly four months, will go out to sea for fishing.

　　At 12: 00 on September 1, the four-month fishing moratorium on the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea officially ended. Fishing boats moored at fishing ports in Dalian, Liaoning, Qinhuangdao, Hebei, Weihai, Shandong and other places will pull out their anchors and start fishing this autumn. Fishermen in the area around the Yellow Sea and Bohai Sea are a huge group. This year, there are nearly 8,000 fishing boats departing from Dalian Wharf alone.

　　For Lao Cheng, who has been a fisherman for more than 40 years, the day of "opening the sea" has always been an exciting day for him, but this time, he was "somewhat sympathetic".

　　At 13: 00 on August 24th, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan started discharging nuclear polluted water into the sea. This plan is expected to last for 30-40 years. On the same day, the General Administration of Customs of China stopped importing Japanese aquatic products.

　　Changhai County, where Lao Cheng is located, is the nearest place in the northeast of China. At present, although the nuclear sewage has not yet reached the offshore of China, anxiety has spread to the hearts of fishermen in Laocheng.

　　"If you work as a fisherman for a day, you have to dry your net for a day."

　　After getting ready for the next day’s sea trip, Lao Cheng had a drink with the guys in the evening.

　　During the four months of fishing moratorium, the 61-year-old Lao Cheng had almost nothing to do except repair the boat and mend the net. His wife sometimes goes to work in a local marine farm. "She earns almost 30 yuan an hour, but she doesn’t have to work every day.". In addition, the old family has no other source of income.

　　In 2021, Laocheng changed two fishing boats with more than 100 horsepower. In addition, in the past two years, the machine was changed and overhauled, and it cost nearly 600,000 yuan. As a boatman like him, fishing in the sea is the mainstay of the family’s survival. He has to work for eight months a year, "as long as it doesn’t blow, he will go out to sea."

　　Sunrise at the seaside is early. Usually, Lao Cheng lives at the dock and leaves at 4 or 5 in the morning. Lao Cheng said that it usually takes one day and one night to go out to sea. If the weather is fine, his boat can catch up to 20 times a month. In the past two years, the family’s annual income can be more than 200,000 yuan.

　　On the wine table before going out to sea, Lao Cheng inevitably talked to the guys about the nuclear sewage discharged from Japan. "We all eat at sea, and when we see the news, we are afraid that the nuclear sewage will come here, and the fishermen will ‘ Paralysis ’ Yes. " Having said that, before going to sea, he still hired eight people as in previous years, and even paid in advance.

　　According to Lao Cheng, 80% of Guangludao Town are fishermen or farmers. "People rely on the sea to eat the sea, polluting the sea, fearing that the fish caught will not be sold." Seafood caught by local fishermen in Guanglu Island generally has a fixed market. For example, the catch of the old journey is usually taken away by the locals at the dock. Some of them will be sold in the local seafood market and served on the dining table in downtown Dalian; Others are sent to all parts of the country through online channels.

　　In an interview not long ago, because the sea has not yet been opened and the seafood market has not been opened, Lao Cheng could not know the market of seafood, and only said "go with the market".

　　Although I don’t know the prospect of the seafood market, fishermen like Lao Cheng still have to go fishing as usual, because "if they don’t go out to sea, they will definitely lose money". He saw the news on the Internet and thought, "The nuclear sewage hasn’t reached us yet ‘ This pimple ’ (Liaoning dialect, referring to this place) ". But what to do in the future, Lao Cheng has no idea, and he is used to eating the sea. He has never thought about changing careers.

　　For many fishermen engaged in marine fishing, it is not easy to change careers. Professor Sun Kang of Liaoning Normal University’s Marine Economy and Sustainable Development Research Center conducted a questionnaire survey in the coastal fishing village of Lushun, Dalian in 2019-2020. The average age of the 541 fishermen he visited was 52.63 years old, and 92.5% of them had junior high school education or below. Fishermen’s income mainly comes from fishery, and 90.2% of fishermen’s family fishery income accounts for more than half of the total family income.

　　Lao Cheng said that he has worked in the sea all his life, fighting with the sky and the sea. "I didn’t expect to fight with Japanese nuclear sewage now."

　　"The common people bowed their heads to work and eat. We didn’t know until Japan discharged sewage. I hope the typhoon can scrape the nuclear sewage back." His wife said beside.

　　According to the Statistical Bulletin of National Fishery Economy in 2022 issued by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, the fishing population of China in 2022 is 16.1945 million, among which more than 1 million fishermen like Lao Cheng are engaged in marine fishing. For these fishermen, although nuclear sewage is a potential threat, their lives have to continue.

　　"If you work as a fisherman for a day, you have to spend a day on the net." Lao Cheng raised his voice and said.

　　At 1 o’clock in the afternoon on September 1, Lao Cheng put a firecracker on the bow and sailed for the sea.

　　"I sell more seafood, but I feel guilty."

　　When Lao Cheng went out to sea to fish, Cheng Ming, who was doing seafood business near Longwangtang in Dalian, was waiting for fish to be served on the dock.

　　At noon on September 1, white smoke was floating on the sea near Longwangtang Fishing Port. Cheng Ming watched hundreds of fishing boats pull out their anchors and set sail. Fishermen set off fireworks in succession, hoping to win a good prize.

　　When these fishing boats come back, the freshest marine fish, crabs, oysters (oysters, also known as oysters) and shrimp crawlers (squids, also known as Pippi shrimp) will appear on Cheng Ming’s stall. Although Japan has discharged nuclear sewage, its seafood business has not been affected for the time being. In the past two days, the frozen goods that Cheng Ming put in the cold storage "sold well". "Some people are very scared and even grab salt, but people who eat seafood eat as usual." Cheng Ming said that he did not intend to reduce the acquisition volume after opening the sea.

　　However, Cheng Ming is still vaguely worried in his heart, for fear that "the people are not active in buying things." He rented a facade room in Longwangtang, and the rent was two or three hundred yuan a day. "If the business can’t be done, I can only be a doorman, and I don’t want a construction site in my 50 s."

　　Compared with anxious Cheng Ming, 29-year-old Ms. Jiang experienced a roller coaster week. Ms. Jiang’s family lives in Lvsigang Town, Nantong, Jiangsu Province. The previous generation of her family was engaged in seafood business. Lusi Port is close to Lusi Fishing Ground, one of the eight major fishing grounds in China, and is one of the six central fishing ports in China. According to Ms. Jiang, most residents in Lvsigang Town depend on the sea to make a living, and there are hundreds of fishing boats in the town.

　　Nantong opened to sea earlier than Dalian. On August 6th, some special fishing boats in Nantong City have gone out to sea for fishing. Before Japan’s nuclear sewage was discharged into the sea, seafood such as shrimp, crab and pomfret had been listed locally. On August 24th, Ms. Jiang still promoted seafood in her circle of friends as usual. But after watching the nuclear sewage news all day, she still couldn’t help forwarding an "authoritative notice" at 8 pm. That picture shows that experts say that "nuclear sewage has little impact on China’s offshore fisheries" and Ms. Jiang "please feel free to eat seafood".

　　In fact, she was very scared in her heart: "Although seafood can still be eaten now, I don’t know if it will be ok in the future. If consumers dare not eat, then I can only switch to freshwater farming. " For her, freshwater aquaculture is a completely unfamiliar industry. "No one in the local area knows about aquaculture, which is equivalent to starting from scratch."

　　In Ms. Jiang’s view, since Japan discharged nuclear sewage, her future has become uncertain. She said that there are rumors in the local area that the risk of marine fishing has become higher. At present, the bank’s ship loans have stopped lending. For Ms. Jiang, her investment of millions of yuan is "shaky". "This is suffering, it is better to kill with a stick, so I can find another way out."

　　She had no idea that after Japan’s nuclear sewage was discharged into the sea, her seafood business became better. These days, the online and offline sales of her home are better than usual, and the sales are 30% higher than usual. When the business is at its best, the daily sales can reach nearly 50,000 yuan. "This is rare in peacetime." At the same time, the local seafood purchase market has also become hot, fishermen’s seafood has been robbed as soon as they landed, and the price has increased by about 5%. There are also media reports that the price of seafood in Jiangsu once rose by more than 20%.

　　Ms. Jiang later analyzed that many people think that seafood can’t be eaten in the future, so they should consume it quickly and even hoard seafood in their own freezers. However, the temporary hot business did not completely reassure Ms. Jiang. In her view, the uncertainty of this line is still high.

　　On the morning of September 1, someone left a message in her circle of friends, saying that her seafood had not been tested. "There are such people, but not many. Like this person who said that he can’t eat seafood, he never bought seafood at my house. " Ms. Jiang said that if a consumer comes to ask her, she can only answer "I can still eat at this stage". As for the future situation, she is not clear. Boss Ni, who is also doing seafood business in Lvsigang, simply bought a nuclear radiation detector and released a video of his seafood showing "normal detection" in a circle of friends.

　　More people opposed to eating seafood appeared in the live broadcast rooms of some fishermen and seafood dealers in Tik Tok. On August 24th, on an Internet platform, a number of fishermen’s live broadcast rooms poured in a lot of bad comments, saying that "eating seafood will lead to cancer" and that fishermen selling seafood are "harming people". Due to the bad comments, some anchors collapsed and cried on the spot, shouting at the camera: "There is really no pollution now!" There are also many netizens who expressed their solidarity in the live broadcast: "There is nothing wrong with China fishermen, and the anchor is cheering!"

　　A seller who opened a seafood online shop said that after Japan discharged nuclear sewage, his hair turned white. He claimed to have spent 10 years of savings, invested tens of millions of yuan to build a factory building of more than 5,000 square meters, and "determined to focus on seafood and aquatic products all his life". Now, because of nuclear sewage, "he is hesitant to continue to insist".

　　"somewhat unsettled"

　　After Japan’s nuclear sewage was discharged into the sea, a group of people rushed into the live broadcast room to attack seafood sellers, while another group was "hoarding seafood".

　　According to the data of Pinduoduo Platform, the sales volume of products such as sea cucumber, large yellow croaker, swimming crab, cooked seafood products and seafood gift boxes in the platform has doubled. According to JD.COM supermarket data, on August 24th, the sales of aquatic products in supermarkets in JD.COM increased by 150% year-on-year. A number of e-commerce executives said in an interview with the media that seafood orders have skyrocketed recently, leading to "warehouses working overtime to pack seafood".

　　In order to "eat with confidence", some people put forward to the merchants "as long as the seafood caught before 1 pm on August 24". There are also some consumers who buy nuclear radiation detectors through online channels and conduct self-inspection on the purchased seafood. On August 24th, the related entry of "Nuclear Radiation Detector" was listed on the hot search list of an e-commerce. Hot search shows that the product "increased by 232% this week". Enter "nuclear radiation detection" and "seafood" on the e-commerce platform for search, and multiple product options appear, with prices ranging from tens of yuan to thousands of yuan.

　　A store told reporters that the nuclear radiation detector sold by itself can be used to detect seafood, but at present, "the whole network is out of stock, and it is expected to be delivered in about 15 days". A consumer who bought the detector said: "Because I live in Qingdao, I often eat seafood and worry about nuclear pollution, so I bought one." Some experts have warned that it is not necessary for ordinary consumers to buy radioactive detectors, because radioactive measurement still needs to use a variety of instruments and methods.

　　For Zhou Xiang, who lives in Dalian, hoarding seafood and buying a detector are "somewhat unsettled". He considers himself a "heavy seafood lover". Although he also pays attention to the news of nuclear sewage discharge in Japan, he is still "swallowing seafood" these days.

　　Lao Cheng is just an ordinary fisherman among many practitioners. What he is most worried about now is not how many days later, but whether these dozens of pounds of crabs and scallops that have just been fished up can be sold at a good price tomorrow morning.

　　Zhongqingbao Zhongqingwang reporter Wei Xi Intern Long Pan