I am a local in North America

Chapter 30 Guaranteed Return + Profit Sharing
The "Junlin" crab fishing boat will set sail tonight.

There was no time for casual conversation. After a brief greeting and expressing their concern, Su Jierui's parents went back to their work.

Thinking about how their son had done so well, winning a million-dollar prize by participating in a reality TV show, the couple were genuinely happy for Su Jerry. At that moment, they were no longer anxious or worried, and were full of energy.

Grandma Zhuang's idea was to try going to sea for two or three days herself first, and if that didn't work, she would then ask the captain of the "Giant Claw" to buy information.

After all, the intelligence fee was as high as $25000. Even if the price was negotiated down to $20000 or $15000, it was still a considerable sum, almost equivalent to the fuel expenses incurred recently.

The hydraulic boom continued to work, neatly stacking crab traps, each about 2 meters long and wide and about 1.8 meters high, made of steel frames and nylon netting, on the deck of the crab fishing boat, layer upon layer.

Based on my experience making YouTube videos last year, a lot of netizens are quite interested in catching king crabs.

Since starting his YouTube account, Su Jierui has posted a total of seventy or eighty videos, the most viewed and highest-grossing video of which was based on last year's crab fishing season.

He produced four or five videos covering everything from buying the boat and applying for permits to procuring supplies and going out to sea to catch crabs. His fan base grew by more than 5.2, which is enough to show that he had a lot of traffic and popularity.

The main issue is that shooting such videos requires both a certain level of expertise and a high cost.

The King's Landing crab fishing boat was acquired for a total cost of approximately $139.5 million, including a significant amount of taxes. It is a unique product that other YouTube creators find difficult to replicate, and it offers viewers a novel experience.

Documentaries about African porters delivering bananas by bicycle and small Pakistani workshops doing handcrafted restorations are quite popular on YouTube.

With his parents busy, Su Jierui, unable to offer any other assistance, was not idle either.

He turned on the gimbal camera, installed the support arm, adjusted and tested the image, then fixed his hair, flashed a bright smile, and took the picture, saying:
"Hi everyone, I'm on my family's crab fishing boat. These are my parents, you all know them, right? Also, there's the boatman Daniel Wang and Uncle Feng, they're here this year too. There are also two local professional crab fishermen we've temporarily hired, I don't know them very well, I'll go say hello later."

"Ten rows by eight columns, each layer has 80 crab traps. Tonight, we will stack them four layers in total, which means we will be carrying a total of 320 crab traps. Any higher and it may affect the stability of the ship. It would be very dangerous if we encountered wind and waves during the voyage."

"Believe me, in the Bering Sea where the weather can change in an instant, no one is willing to take the risk. Crab fishing is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, and safety is the most important thing."

"Such a heavy crab trap, when empty, weighs about 300 kilograms. It will be dropped into the seabed at a depth of three to four hundred meters. There will be groups of 10 to 30 traps connected together by a main cable. The exact number of traps in a group will depend on the distribution of the crab population on the seabed. Huge buoys will be attached to both ends to mark the traps and make it easier to retrieve them later..."

That's just Su Jierui's video style; it's not exactly high-energy.

Similar to his performance during the filming of the "Living Alone in the Wilderness" program, he spoke in a calm and unhurried manner. After giving a detailed introduction to his crab fishing boat, he briefly mentioned some of the troubles he faced during this year's crab fishing season.

For example, my dad filled out the wrong document, which delayed our departure for two or three weeks.

Other issues included missing the best crab-catching season, rough seas, and declining king crab prices. It also included being asked for a $25000 intelligence fee after consulting with other boat owners.

Of course, to avoid causing any unnecessary trouble for his parents, Su Jierui did not mention the "Giant Claw" or the name of the crab fishing boat captain.

Information about crab populations is very valuable, so it's normal for people to ask for exorbitant prices and then try to bargain. He was simply giving a detailed account of what his family had encountered during this year's crab-catching season, without any intention of complaining or grumbling.

Immediately afterwards, he went to find Uncle Feng, who was busy hanging cages.

This middle-aged man in his forties started working for Su Jierui's grandfather when he was 18. After his grandfather retired, he continued to work for Su's father.

In Su Jierui's heart, Uncle Feng was an elder who watched him grow up, and was basically considered half a family member.

Fishing boats have irregular sailing times and often encounter bad weather, fishing bans in certain areas, and boat repairs. Sometimes the fishermen on board are very busy, while at other times they have to rest for several days in a row.

Basically, he was a "long-term worker." Old Su's father bought pension and medical insurance for Uncle Feng. For the pension insurance portion, both parties each paid 6.2% of their monthly salary. Another Chinese man named Daniel Wang did the same.

Uncle Feng didn't have any grand ambitions. He simply treated fishing as a job, occasionally taking on part-time jobs on other fishing boats or acting as a middleman, introducing others to buy and sell boats or seafood. He lived a fulfilling life.

His wife runs a barbershop near Pike Place Market in Seattle, which she's been running for over ten years. They also have a son who helps out at home while attending community college. He's changed jobs several times but never stayed in one for long, which drives Uncle Feng and his wife crazy. On the other hand, Su Jerry is clearly the "other people's child" in Uncle Feng's eyes. He's been taken care of a lot since he was little, and they bring him pretty seashells, corals, and small fish to play with.

Although they are not as experienced as other professional crab fishermen, Uncle Feng and another Chinese fisherman in his 30s surnamed Wang usually work for his family. They are more trustworthy than temporary outsiders. How can they just abandon them?
When they encounter a chance to make money like this, they naturally bring them along as well.

Although they lacked some experience, these two fishermen were both very hardworking. During the busiest period of last year's crab fishing season, they only slept four or five hours a day, which was no less than that of the professional crab fishermen in the Aleutian Islands.

now.

When Su Jierui inquired about his income, Uncle Feng, who is getting older and starting to pay attention to his health, and is currently trying to quit smoking, smiled as he chewed nicotine-containing nicotine gum and replied:

"This year is different. We set sail too late, and the sea is rough, which is a bit dangerous. Many crab fishermen have already made money and gone home, and they are unwilling to continue because they are worried about returning empty-handed."

"So starting last week, we've been receiving an extra $200 basic allowance every workday. The rest is similar to other crab fishing boats. We can receive a share of the total profit from the sale of king crabs on the crab fishing boats."

“Your parents are really generous this time. If we catch enough king crabs to sell, after deducting basic operating costs, the four of us boatmen will each get an additional 4.5% of the net profit…”

This year is indeed a special year.

The peak fishing season arrived in October last year. Following the rules of other crab fishing boats, a total of 5 boatmen were hired on board. Each boatman was only paid 4% of the profits as a bonus, with no basic salary.

The income during the crab fishing season is indeed extremely high.

With the income sharing and subsidies for the round trip, Uncle Feng and the Chinese boatman named Daniel Wang each earned $16000 during last year's crab fishing season, which was equivalent to four or five months' wages for them.

The three crab fishermen hired locally earned $12500 in commission in just over a week.

This year they arrived late, and the sea was still rough. If only profit sharing was considered, the other crab fishermen temporarily hired from the local area were unwilling to work.

They worried that the King's Landing crab fishing boat would ultimately make very little profit, or even a negative profit, resulting in a wasted effort. If they only received a share of the profits, they might not get a single penny in the end.

So, thinking that you can't catch a wolf without risking your cub, and worried about not having enough manpower on the crab fishing boat, Su Jerry's parents could only adopt a new model of "guaranteed salary + profit sharing". They added an extra $200 base salary per workday and increased the net profit sharing by 0.5% to appease the crab fishermen and patiently wait for the crab fishing window to arrive.

The plan was unanimously approved by the crew.

This essentially provides them with a guarantee: even if the weather is bad and they cannot go out to sea, or if they do not catch enough king crabs, causing the King's Landing crab fishing boat to suffer losses, these crab fishermen can still earn a basic wage of $200 per workday.

Fuel costs, bait costs, depreciation of crab traps and equipment, insurance premiums, licenses, vessel maintenance and repairs, dockside charges and supplies, etc., can burn through two to three hundred thousand US dollars in basic expenses during a crab fishing season.

Last year, I made over $60 selling king crabs, and in the end, I still had a little over $20 left, which is quite good. It wasn't as profitable as the rumors online suggested.

Those professional crab fishermen who can earn $10 in a crab fishing season are either captains or first mates who bring great value to the ship owners, or they work for large crab fishing companies and work long hours.

Some novice crab fishermen who are new to the business can get 0.5% to 1.5% of the net profit, which is far less than the captain's 7% to 10%.

Some crab fishing boats do not have IFQ quotas and can only be rented from outside.

In the past two years, when prices were high, king crabs caught sold for $12 to $15 per pound, but quota rental fees alone amounted to $3 or $4 per pound. It was just hard work, and it was difficult to make a lot of money.

After collecting enough video footage, Su Jierui turned off the gimbal camera, went into the cabin to find a place, and planned to edit the video as soon as possible to tell his fans that he had finally returned.

For safety reasons, his parents wanted him to stay ashore, but he didn't want to get off the boat.

I came all the way from Yellowknife to the Aleutian Islands in the Bering Sea today, not just to stay in a hotel alone and enjoy the snow.

A crab fishing boat may spend a week at sea on a single trip. If the camera is handed to parents, they may not know what YouTube viewers like to see and may not be able to capture enough exciting footage.
(End of this chapter)