Fishing in the Deep Blue
Close to shore, you may have noticed, water isn't blue, it's more green. Some of that is pollution in the modern world, probably, but, mostly, it's life.
Shallow water has sea weed rooted in it, little fish feeding on the sea weed, big fish on the little fish, and microflora and fauna on the various waste products and feeding other things themselves.
Farther out it gets deeper. How fast can vary quite a bit by location. Once it gets that beautiful deep blue everyone expects to see, there isn't any large amount of life anymore. The food chain is broken. Oh, there' likely a fair amount on the floor for a bit farther. Crab, lobster and the like, but fishing for them means waiting a day to see what went into the trap.
Also, of course, there are migrators. Shark, whale, dolphin and what not. Even some limited smaller sorts. Just not a lot of micro flora. Nothing for it to feed on. That's why the water is blue: It's CLEAN.
So your fisher will be net fishing close in, pole fishing farther out, and unable to find anything when really far out. On the plus side, catch may well be greater than you folks need, so there is a good chance of a surplus building up.
Oh, and those sharks that follow you for hundreds and thousands of miles? They're eating the garbage you throw over the side. You're feeding them, so they stick with you. Be aware when you feel the urge to go swimming.
To be fair the game's ship and crew is much smaller than the one I was one, so there may only be one shark. We usually had a small school.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:56, Thu 02 Dec 2021.