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Cal nodded. “Royal showed me how to tie the knots.”
“Would you like to tie these?” she asked.
Beau moved closer and held out a hand. “Wait a sec. He’s never been on a shrimping boat, much less set up a trawl line.”
Kit shrugged and handed Cal the line. “Then this is the perfect time for him to practice.”
Beau gestured toward Royal. “I don’t think your dad would be too pleased if those knots didn’t hold and he lost his—”
“Is this your boat?” Kit asked, her lips twitching.
Beau, smiling, shook his head. “No.”
“Then you don’t call the shots.” Kit nudged Cal’s knee. “Go ahead, Cal. Tie that bag line.”
Several minutes later, the doors were in place, and the nets and trawl lines were set. Royal conducted one last check on both outriggers, then deployed the nets. Cables lowered the gear on both sides of the boat, the doors opened as they sank below the water, and the nets stretched, billowing out and down.
“How far down do they go?” Cal asked, leaning over the starboard gunwale and watching the trawl lines sink.
“All the way to the bottom.” Royal joined Cal and pointed at a trawl line just before it disappeared from view. “See them doors? They open right up underwater and spread those nets out like a bag. There’s a chain on the front of the nets called a tickler.”
Cal laughed. “A tickler?”
“Yep.” Royal made a sweeping motion with his hand. “It skims the bottom and tickles those shrimp, making ’em jump right in.”
“And the dolphins,” Mackey said, shaking Royal’s arm. “Tell him about the dolphins.”
Royal leaned his elbows on the gunwale and grinned. “Oh, I won’t need to tell him, son. He’s gonna see for himself soon enough.”
And Cal did see—as did everyone else. Bottlenose dolphins showed up first, diving along the wake of the boat, diving deep and picking off fish caught in the nets. Brown pelicans arrived next, swooping low in flocks around the outriggers, hovering close, some perching on various areas of the boat and others diving along the trawls, picking off fish, shrimp, and anything else that caught their eye. Gulls joined the gang of scavengers, as well, flying in low circles, waiting patiently for the nets to be hauled up out of the water.
The excited flurry of wildlife captivated Cal and Mackey. They shot from one side of the boat to the other, their gazes darting up, around, and down, trying to take in all the sights and sounds. They stood with Kit and Viv for a long time, asking questions and listening intently to each answer.
Beau smiled, watching as Cal edged closer to Kit and looked over the gunwale at the dolphins diving alongside the boat.
“What if something you don’t want gets caught in the net?” Cal asked.
“Unfortunately, that happens,” Kit said. “That’s called bycatch. But there are safeguards in place to protect vulnerable species, like sea turtles. Royal outfits the trawls with these things called TEDs. Stands for turtle excluder devices. If a turtle gets trapped, that gear provides a way out. And another safeguard is gear called a bycatch reduction device, which helps fish find their way out, too. But bycatch can’t be avoided altogether, and it mostly ends up being fish and crabs.”
“What does he do with the bycatch that’s there when he pulls the nets up?”
“We sort it out from the shrimp,” Viv said, leaning around Kit and smiling at Cal. “Then we ice and store what we think we can sell, or we deliver a high-end feast”—she gestured at the birds and dolphins—“for these guys.”
“Can I help when it’s time?” Cal asked.
“Sure you can,” Viv said.
Kit met Beau’s eyes and grinned. “Your dad, too. Sorting’s the best part.”
Soon Royal announced it was time to haul up the nets. Everyone pitched in: Mackey and Cal joined Royal and Nate at one outrigger, while Beau, Kit, and Viv worked the other. Nets were hauled to the surface by a winch, then hoisted onto the boat with cables. Then Royal, Kit, and Viv popped the bag lines by undoing the quick-release knots, allowing the catch to spill free of the nets and fill the aft work deck.
Beau grabbed a bucket and sat on the work deck with Kit, Viv, Cal, and Mackey. They formed a large circle around the pile of shrimp, fish, and crabs, which jumped, wriggled, and rolled in a chaotic mass. It took several hours to sort the shrimp into buckets, certain species of fish into another, and crabs into a third. The remaining bycatch, which couldn’t be salvaged or sold, was shoved off the boat in small batches, drawing hordes of pelicans and gulls, which scrabbled over each other to scoop up the fresh fish.
Mackey whooped and cheered, and Cal pulled out his cell phone and took pictures, aiming in every direction, unable to keep up with the flurry of activity.
Beau sagged back against the bulkhead of the work deck, his legs, arms, and back aching, but a pleased smile had formed on his lips.
“Enjoy yourself?” Kit teased, the same tired pleasure he felt filling her expression as she sat across from him on the work deck, leaning back on her hands.
