好英语网美食与生态：非洲龙虾捕捞的两难困境
In a small village in southern Madagascar, locals make their living fishing for lobster using handmade palm leaf pots and wooden boats.
在马达加斯加岛南部的一个小村庄里，当地人用手工编的棕榈叶虾笼和木头船捕捉龙虾为生。
At sunrise on the palm fringed beach of Manafiafy village, in the community of Sainte Luce, pirogues (wooden canoes) come surfing in on the waves in their dozens. Locals haul the heavy boats up onto the beach and begin counting and weighing their catch; beautiful spiny lobsters that have been caught in pots made of hand-woven palm leaves.
日出时分，圣吕斯（Sainte Luce）地区的玛娜菲亚村（Manafiafy），棕榈树环绕的海滩上，数十只出海捕虾的独木舟已乘浪回来。当地人把沉甸甸的船拖到海滩上，开始清点他们用手编棕榈叶虾笼捕获的猎物，给这些漂亮多刺的龙虾称重。
Small-scale lobster fishing in Sainte Luce is the main source of income for 80% of households and it’s the key lobster fishery for the region of Anosy, where lobster exports provide the most significant contribution to the regional economy and make up the majority of national lobster exports. In recent years, however, catches have declined, most likely due to overfishing and unpredictable weather patterns, threatening the security of the impoverished community’s main income stream.
在圣吕斯，用小船捕捞龙虾是80%家庭的主要收入来源。圣吕斯也是阿诺西区（Anosy）龙虾捕捞业支柱。龙虾出口不仅对阿诺西区的经济贡献最大，也占全国龙虾出口的大部分。然而近年来，很可能是因为过度捕捞和不可预测的天气模式，渔获量下降，已威胁到这个贫困地区的主要收入来源。
In response to the decline in catches, the fishermen, with the help of British NGO SEED Madagascar, have implemented a locally managed marine area which includes a no-take zone with an area of 13km2 for the majority of the year. The project has shown great success in rebalancing stocks and saving an important industry in Sainte Luce. So much so that surrounding communities are now implementing their own no-take zones.
为了应对渔获量的下降，圣吕斯渔民们在英国非政府机构“永续环境教育与发展”（SEED）马达加斯加分部的帮助下，建立了一个由当地人管理的海域，其中包括一片面积为13平方公里、一年大部分时间禁捕的海域范围。这个项目重新平衡了水产蕴藏量，也拯救了对圣吕斯颇为重要的渔业 ，成绩非常显著，以至于周边地区竞相效仿，纷纷建立起自己的禁捕海域区。
I was in Sainte Luce investigating the impact of climate change in Madagascar and spent the morning on the beach talking to fisherman about their work and how things have changed. Along the beach, buyers were going from boat to boat as they came in, inspecting the catch and weighing the bigger lobsters. The fishermen were nervously waiting around to see how much they’d make that day.
我在圣吕斯调查气候变化对马达加斯加岛的影响时，曾花了一个早上跟渔民在海滩上聊他们的工作和他们所经历的变化。买家们到达后，会沿着海滩一条船一条船地查看，选出较大的龙虾称重。渔民们则紧张地等待着，想知道那天他们可以挣到多少钱。
On the beach, a man named Andry Christin was going from boat to boat with a clipboard. He lives in the village and has been working to monitor the locally managed marine area. He records weights and sizes of the lobsters and checks whether they are females with eggs. He explains that he wants to teach the fisherman about throwing back small lobsters so they can grow to full size as well as leaving any females with eggs. This is part of the project but it’s a hard part to implement, he explains, people say to me. “We need money to buy rice because we can't grow it here so we must sell all we can.”
在海滩上，一个叫克里斯丁（Andry Christin）的男人正拿着笔记板从一条船走到另一条船。他就住在村子里，负责监测由当地人管理的海域。他记录下龙虾的重量和大小，还要检查是否已有产卵的雌虾。他解释说，他想说服渔民们把小虾丢回大海让小虾长大，以及放过产卵的雌虾。这是项目的一部分，但很难实施。因为人们总是说“我需要钱买大米，因为我们这里不能种大米，所以我们必须把所有能卖掉的都卖掉。”
The Chef Cartier (chief) of the village, Benagnomby Foara, says that weather patterns have become far more unpredictable so they can’t tell when the rains will come like they used to and often have crop failures. Lobster fishing is vital so people can buy food when they can’t grow anything reliably, but, he says, the climate affects the fishing too. “We have a lot more storms now and it’s dangerous to go out in stormy weather, some people risk it when they are desperate, but it’s not safe.”
村长弗拉（Benagnomby Foara）说，天气模式变得越来越难预测，所以他们很难像过去那样预测何时会下雨，因此农作物常常歉收。当种植业靠不住的时候，龙虾捕捞对当地人就至关重要，让他们可以购买食物。但村长说，气候也影响捕捞。“我们现在遇到的风暴很多，在暴风雨天气出海很危险，有些人在绝望的时候会冒险行事，但这并不安全。”
The day I am on the beach the weather is beautiful, but that can be a hindrance too. Lobsters are going for about 80 pence for 1kg. The most a boat brings in that day is 2kg and each boat has three to four people working on it. They tell me it was a bad catch day; lobsters don’t like the sun because they can’t hide from predators very well. Christin explains that sometimes he sees people bring in 20kg, but that’s very rare. “When my grandfather was fishing, he would sometimes bring in 100kg per boat in one day, but that could never happen anymore.”
我在海滩上的那天天气很好，但好天气也可能是麻烦。龙虾的价格快到每公斤80便士，但那天捕获最多的一条船也只带回2公斤，而一条船上有三、四个人一同工作。他们告诉我那天不是捕虾的好天气。龙虾不喜欢阳光，因为阳光下没办法躲避捕猎者。克里斯丁解释说，他有时候会看到有人捕捞到20公斤，但这非常罕见。“我祖父打渔的时候，他有时一天一条船能带回100公斤渔获，现在是不可能的了。”
They may never see the 100kg catches of days gone by, but with the new managed areas in place, lobster stocks are increasing and this is helping the local community. Despite the enthusiasm of the local communities to continue implementing no-take zones, the changing climate still poses a problem for them.
他们可能永远都看不到过去日捕100公斤的日子了，但随着新的管理海域的设立，龙虾的数量正在增加，这对当地社区是非常有益的。但尽管当地人热衷于继续建立禁捕区，气候变化对他们来说依然是个问题。
“We will continue to do our best to manage the lobster stocks, but we can’t control the weather.”
“我们会继续尽最大努力维持和增加海域的龙虾数量，但我们无法控制气候。”