经济学人:英国渔业之争:做鱼开吃(1)

 　　Britain 英国

　　Fish Wars: Have your fish cake and eat it 渔业之争：做鱼开吃

　　A silly spat¹ about seafood² shows the sort of compromises that Brexit will force 一场关于海产品的愚蠢争论暴露了英国脱欧面临的问题。

　　Britain's fishing industry is a tiddler, contributing less than 0.1% of GDP. But the island nation has great affection for its fleet. 英国的捕鱼业是非常小众的一方面，对英国GDP的贡献不足0.1%，但是这个岛国对他的舰队有着很深厚的感情。

　　During last year's Brexit referendum campaign, a flotilla of trawlermen steamed up the Thames to protest against European Union fishing quotas³. 在去年的脱欧公投之中，一群拖网渔船工人的小型舰队出现在泰晤士河上来抗议欧盟的捕鱼配额。

　　On July 2nd Michael Gove, the Brexiteer environment secretary (who claims that his father's Aberdeen fish business was sunk by EU rules),  7月2日，脱欧支持者的环境部长迈克尔·戈夫（他宣称他父亲的阿伯丁鱼类生意因欧盟的规定而受创）宣布，

　　announced that Britain would “take back control” of its waters by unilaterally withdrawing from an international fishing treaty. 英国将通过单方面退出国际捕鱼公约来夺回其对水域的控制权。

　　Gutting⁴ such agreements is strongly supported by coastal⁵ communities. 沿岸群众非常支持退出这类条约。

　　The pro-Brexit press cheered Mr Gove's bold announcement. 支持脱欧的媒体对戈夫先生大胆的宣布大加赞扬。

　　But landing a new deal for British fishermen will be legally complex, expensive to enforce, oblige Britain to observe European rules that it has had no hand in setting and,  但是为英国渔民颁布一条新规定在法律上是非常复杂的，要付出高昂的代价，迫使英国去审视它曾无权置喙的欧盟制定的规定，

　　most likely, leave its businesses and consumers worse off than before. 而且也可能会使渔业和消费者们比以前更糟。

　　It is, in other words, a case study of the Brexit negotiations⁶ as a whole. 也就是说，这是对英国脱欧谈判整体的一个案例研究。

　　The EU's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) was drawn⁷ up before Britain joined, to its disadvantage. 《欧盟通用渔业政策》(CFP)早在英国加入之前就已经制定出来了，这虽然令英国处于不利地位。

　　But membership has allowed Britain to improve the policy. 但是会员的身份使得英国有权改进这项政策。

　　Countries' quotas are now set on a basis that is more scientific than political. 现在每个国家的配额依据更多的是基于科学而不是政治。

　　Unwanted fish can no longer be discarded at sea, which has helped to reverse the depletion⁸ of stocks. 没人要的鱼不允许再被随意的丢进海里，这有助于扭转鱼类资源耗竭的问题。

　　Unpicking decades of tangled⁹ legal agreements will be harder than it looks. 理清长达数十年间错综复杂的法律协议是很困难的。

　　Mr Gove has initiated¹⁰ Britain's withdrawal¹¹ from the London Fisheries Convention. 戈夫先生已经发动英国从伦敦渔业协会退会。

　　But Michel Barnier, the European Commission's Brexit negotiator, argues that this 1964 agreement has since been superseded¹² by the CFP. 但是欧盟委员会的英国脱欧谈判官米歇尔·巴尼耶认为1964年协议已经被CFP取代了。

　　Regardless of these conventions, foreign fishermen may claim historic fishing rights going back decades or even centuries. 忽略这些公约的话，外国渔民可能会索要几十年甚至几个世纪以前的钓鱼权。

　　Many of them have set up units in Britain to buy quotas from British fishermen. 他们中的许多人已经在英国建立起组织以买英国渔民手中的配额。

　　Unless the government overturns these property rights by decree, it may face a large compensation bill. 除非政府通过法令废除这些财产权，否则它将会面临一大笔索赔。

1 spat   

n.口角，掌击；v.发出呼噜呼噜声

参考例句：

• Her parents always have spats.她的父母经常有些小的口角。
• There is only a spat between the brother and sister.那只是兄妹间的小吵小闹。

2 seafood   

n.海产食品，海味，海鲜

参考例句：

• There's an excellent seafood restaurant near here.离这儿不远有家非常不错的海鲜馆。
• Shrimps are a popular type of seafood.小虾是比较普遍的一种海味。

3 quotas   

（正式限定的）定量( quota的名词复数 )； 定额； 指标； 摊派

参考例句：

• In fulfilling the production quotas, John made rings round all his fellow workers. 约翰完成生产定额大大超过他的同事们。
• Quotas of the means of production are allocated by the higher administrative bodies to the lower ones. 物资指标按隶属关系分配。

4 gutting   

n.去内脏v.毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的现在分词 )；取出…的内脏

参考例句：

5 coastal   

adj.海岸的，沿海的，沿岸的

参考例句：

• The ocean waves are slowly eating away the coastal rocks.大海的波浪慢慢地侵蚀着岸边的岩石。
• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。

6 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

7 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

8 depletion   

n.耗尽，枯竭

参考例句：

• Increased consumption of water has led to rapid depletion of groundwater reserves.用水量的增加导致了地下水贮备迅速枯竭。
• Farmers should rotate crops every season to prevent depletion of the soil.农夫每季应该要轮耕，以免耗尽土壤。

9 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

10 initiated   

n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入

参考例句：

• He has not yet been thoroughly initiated into the mysteries of computers. 他对计算机的奥秘尚未入门。
• The artist initiated the girl into the art world in France. 这个艺术家介绍这个女孩加入巴黎艺术界。

11 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

12 superseded   

[医]被代替的，废弃的

参考例句：

• The theory has been superseded by more recent research. 这一理论已为新近的研究所取代。
• The use of machinery has superseded manual labour. 机器的使用已经取代了手工劳动。