Nearly all of his 100,000 large yellow croakers were wiped out, yet he still refused to back down

When the reporter recently arrived at the large yellow croaker cage aquaculture base in the waters near the tail of Xiangshan Harbor, Xue Songbo and the fishermen were carrying fish feed and doing cage feeding work, casting several thousand jin of feed to the black sea bream. Mixed in among them were also 150,000 Daiqu-race large yellow croakers, swimming freely in the lower layer of the water, a spectacular sight, and these were Xue Songbo's “heart's treasure.” After being discharged from the military, he took off his uniform, but he did not throw away a soldier's fortitude and fighting spirit, and became an expert in large yellow croaker farming.

Xue Songbo is from Xue'ao in Qiangjiao, a true coastal man, with the boldness and toughness innate to seaside families. In 1994, carrying his longing for military life, he ended his career as a mold apprentice and went to Chuzhou, Anhui, to serve as a scout for three years. In the military, the outstanding Xue Songbo was always a squad leader. Even after being discharged, he still kept in touch with his old comrades-in-arms and set up a WeChat group; the bond among comrades did not fade in the slightest with the passage of time, and even in the arduous entrepreneurship that followed, he received great help from his comrades. He said: “Comradeship is another kind of kinship that cannot be cut off.”

After being discharged, he returned to this sea area that gave him birth and raised him. Xue Songbo took off his military uniform and took up a livelihood dealing with the sea, farming sea bass and black sea bream in the waters of Xiangshan Harbor. Just like that, with no technology, no capital, and no experience, and completely poor, Xue Songbo began his business with the help of relatives and friends, and the next year switched to farming large yellow croakers. “I can't forget the wild large yellow croakers I ate as a child. There are fewer and fewer now, and I want my children to be able to eat delicious large yellow croakers too.” When he learned that the Ningbo Fisheries Research Institute was selling first-generation Daiqu-race large yellow croaker fry, he secretly made up his mind to make large yellow croaker farming a success.

Farming Daiqu-race large yellow croakers is slow, meticulous work, and the farming requirements are also very high. Every year when winter comes, if the temperature is below 8 degrees Celsius, the fish will freeze to death, and they can only all be moved to Fujian, with transport costs alone amounting to about 200,000 yuan. The farming cycle for large yellow croakers is two years, and the feed fed each day costs 3,000 yuan. Such a huge “appetite” caught Xue Songbo off guard. The hardest time was when the fish had not yet gone on the market, the capital had not been recovered, and he still had to keep putting money in every day, borrowing everywhere. But military life forged in him an iron will and a striving spirit. Facing difficulties, he did not bow his head or lose heart, and actively sought business and expanded the market. At the same time, in order to give the fish meat an excellent taste, he read all kinds of professional books, kept exploring based on his previous farming experience, and adjusted the feed formula many times to ensure the fish's taste kept getting closer to wild yellow croaker.

From releasing fry, dividing them into pens, and treating diseases, after more than 10 years of exploration, Xue Songbo had already become half a farming expert. Although the process was extremely arduous, under his persistence he still succeeded, and the survival rate of the large yellow croakers reached 70%. In recent years, because of his good reputation, the large yellow croakers he farms have also become more and more popular with the market and customers, selling for 100—200 yuan per jin. However, farming large yellow croakers is also a high-risk livelihood. Last year, because of the freezing cold and a sudden drop in temperature, most of the 100,000 large yellow croakers froze to death, nearly wiping out the entire stock. This was the most severe loss in his more than 10 years of farming large yellow croakers. “Farming large yellow croakers is like raising children. Batch after batch, they are cultivated and swim onto the dining tables of countless households. After last year's heavy blow, this year I have to start cultivating again. The most important thing is to be sincere and do this well. Just like when I loved being a soldier back then, I must do it without hesitation, abandon nothing, and give up nothing.” After adjustments, Xue Songbo planned to start over from the beginning, purchased 150,000 large yellow croaker fry, and continued his large yellow croaker farming business.