(本文选自《经济学人》20201024期)
背景介绍：
海洋是人类获取各种资源的一个巨大的宝库，而海洋中的鱼类资源更是全球几十亿人获取优质蛋白的重要来源。全球人口增长推动着鱼类需求的增长，同时，非法捕捞行为也使海洋鱼类资源受到严重破坏，使其面临走向枯竭的困境。
Illicit fishing
devastates
the seas and abuses crews
“Consider the
subtleness
of the sea,” warned Herman Melville in “Moby Dick”; “how its most dreaded creatures glide under water...
treacherously
hidden beneath the loveliest tints of azure.” Nearly 170 years later, another marine horror is just becoming visible.
赫尔曼·麦尔维尔在小说《白鲸记》中警告人们：“想想大海的微妙之处，最可怕的生物是如何在水下穿梭而行的……它们狡诈地隐藏在迷人的蔚蓝之下。”在大约170年后，一场海洋恐怖事件正逐渐浮出水面。
Satellite and other imagery has revealed “dark fleets” of fishing boats that turn off their transponders and plunder the ocean’s bounty. Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing accounts for a staggering 20-50% of the global catch. It is one reason fish stocks are
plummeting
: just a fifth of commercial species are sustainably fished.
据卫星及其他影像资料显示，由渔船组成的“黑暗舰队”关闭了应答器，大肆掠夺着海洋资源。非法、未上报或不受管制的捕捞占全球捕鱼量的20%-50%，这一比例令人震惊。这正是海洋鱼类资源骤然减少的原因之一：仅有五分之一的商业鱼类物种仍可持续捕捞。
Illegal operators rob mostly poor coastal states of over $20bn a year and threaten the livelihoods of millions of small fishermen. North Korean coastal waters have been so pillaged that its fishermen have to motor their rickety craft far out into stormy seas to fill their nets. Thousands have drowned.
非法捕捞者每年从贫穷的沿海国家掠夺了超过200亿美元的鱼类资源，威胁着成千上万小渔民的生计。朝鲜的沿海水域尤其受到严重的掠夺，以至于朝鲜渔民不得不开着他们摇摇晃晃的渔船前往充满狂风暴雨的海域捕鱼，成千上万的渔民因此丧生。
A huge amount of illicit fishing happens on licensed boats, too. They might catch more than their quota, or falsely declare their catch as abundant albacore tuna instead of the more valuable bigeye. In port fisheries inspectors are always overstretched. If an operator is caught, for instance, fishing with too fine a net, the fine and
confiscation
are seen as a cost of doing business. Many pay up and head straight back out to sea.
大量持有许可执照的船只也在进行非法捕捞。他们有时会捕捞超过配额的金枪鱼，或是谎称他们捕获的是长鳍金枪鱼，而非价值更高的大眼金枪鱼。港口的渔业检查员往往是力不从心。例如，捕鱼者因使用太细的渔网捕鱼而被抓到，他们会被罚款并没收渔网，但这些都被他们视为成本的一部分。许多人在交了罚款后，又回到海里继续从事非法捕捞活动了。
The damage from illicit fishing goes well beyond fish stocks. Operators committing one kind of crime are likely to be committing others, too—cutting the fins off sharks, or even running guns or drugs. Many are also abusing their crews.
非法捕捞造成的危害远不只鱼类资源的损失。犯下这一罪行的捕鱼者很有可能还会从事其他犯罪行为，比如收割鲨鱼鱼鳍，甚至走私枪支和毒品。许多非法捕捞者还会虐待他们的船员。
Tens of thousands of migrant workers, mainly from South-East Asia, man the world’s fleets. Many toil at sea in vile conditions with violent masters, sometimes for years at a time. A lot of them are in debt
bondage
; and a fishing boat is a lot harder to escape from than a factory.
成千上万来主要自东南亚的移民工人组成了世界船队。面对恶劣的生存环境和残暴的船长，许多人这得辛勤劳作，而一出海往往就是几年。他们中的许多人都是负债累累；并且相比工厂，你更难从一艘船上逃走。
Too often, the ultimate beneficiaries of this trade are hard to hook because they hide behind brass-plate companies and
murky
joint ventures. Pursuing them requires the same kind of
sleuthing
involved in busting criminal syndicates. An initiative led by Norway to go after transnational-fisheries crime is gaining support. Much more cross-border co-operation is needed.
由于非法捕捞的最终受益者往往躲在挂牌公司和不透明的合资企业后面，因此很难对他们进行有效打击。想要追捕这些人就要采用像打击犯罪集团那样的刑侦手段。由挪威主导的一项打击跨国渔业犯罪的倡议正在得到越来越多国家的支持。打击渔业犯罪需要更紧密的跨境合作。
At sea, technology can help. Electronic monitoring promises a technological revolution on board—Australian and American fleets are leading the way. Cameras combined with machine learning can spot suspicious behaviour and even identify illicit species being brought on board. They should be compulsory as a condition of access to the exclusive economic zones that define a country’s control over resources such as fish.
在海上，技术能够为我们提供帮助。船上的电子监控预示着一场技术变革——澳大利亚和美国的船队正在引领着这项技术。与机器学习相结合的摄像机可以发现可疑的行为，甚至能够识别船上装载的非法捕获的鱼类。这些措施应该被强制执行，并作为进入专属经济区（界定一个国家对鱼类等资源的控制）的一个条件。
They should also be made compulsory even when vessels are on the high seas. Equally, national regulators should set basic labour standards at sea. If countries fail to follow the rules, coastal states should bar their fishing fleets from their waters. Fish-eating nations should allow imports only from responsible fleets.
即使船只在公海捕捞，也应该遵守规定。此外，各国监管机构也应该在海上制定基本的劳工标准。如果某个国家不遵守这种规定，沿海国家应该禁止该国渔船进入其海域。鱼类消费大国应该仅与遵守规定的捕鱼船队进行鱼类资源的交易。
Above all, governments should agree at the WTO to scrap the subsidies that promote overfishing. Of the $35bn a year lavished on the industry, about $22bn helps destroy fish stocks, mainly by making fuel too cheap. Do away with subsidies and forced labour, and half of high-seas fishing would no longer be profitable. Such abuses would disappear overnight.
最重要的是，各国政府应该在世贸组织上协商取消助长过度捕捞的补贴政策。在每年投入到渔业的350亿美元中，约有220亿美元助长了鱼类资源的破坏，主要问题在于燃料太过便宜。如果取消补贴并制止强迫劳动，一半的公海捕鱼将不再有利可图。过度捕捞的问题也将迅速得到解决。
Some of the money that was saved could help restore coastal fisheries for millions of small-scale fisherfolk—underwriting temporary
moratoriums
on fishing and creating no-catch zones. And it could help establish fish farming, nourished by insect larvae. Fishing does not have to be a fishy business.
由此节省下来的部分资金可以用于帮助数百万小渔民恢复沿海渔业，在休渔期为渔民提供资助并建立禁渔区。这笔资金还可用于帮助建立以昆虫幼虫饲养的鱼类养殖业。这样一来，捕鱼业就不再是一门让人生厌的生意了。
(红色标注词为重难点词汇)
本文翻译：Vinnie
校核：Vinnie
编辑：Vinnie
据联合国一项数据显示，全球有近九成渔场处于捕捞顶限、或过度捕捞。近年来，非法捕捞现象的加剧不仅使得鱼类数量日益减少，也让靠捕鱼为生的渔民深感忧虑。而想要遏制非法捕捞行为，除了借助于技术手段外，各国还应该加强合作，共同推动海洋资源保护政策的制定与实施。
重难点词汇：
devastate
[ˈdevəsteɪt] vt. 毁灭；毁坏
