GRE阅读练习：海产品争论暴露英国脱欧问题

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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 quotas.

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), announced that Britain would “take back control” of its waters by unilaterally withdrawing from an international fishing treaty.

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，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。

Gutting such agreements is strongly supported by coastal 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, most likely, leave its businesses and consumers worse off than before.

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，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 negotiations 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 drawn 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 depletion 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 tangled 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 initiated Britain's withdrawal 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But Michel Barnier, the European Commission's Brexit negotiator, argues that this 1964 agreement has since been superseded by the CFP.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。

In any case, Britain will find that, unless it is willing to continue sharing access to its waters, it will lose access to valuable foreign markets.

英国将会发现，无论如何它都会失去珍贵的国外市场，除非它愿意分享它的水域。

Consider Norway, which as a non-EU member has control of its own waters.

想想挪威，对于自己的水域有控制权的非欧盟成员。

It nonetheless co-operates with the EU and other countries over fish quotas in 90% of them, in order to maintain its own fishermen's access to fisheries inside the EU.

为了维护本国渔民可以进入欧盟内部市场的权益，在90%的渔业配额上面它还是要和欧盟以及其他国家合作。

Of the 700,000 tonnes of fish landed in Britain each year, some 500,000 is exported, two-thirds of it to the EU.

在英国，每年有七十万吨的鱼被打捞上岸，其中大约有五十万吨出口外国，三分之二发往欧盟。

Without a mutual deal, which would surely include giving European fishermen some access to British waters, those exports would face World Trade Organisation tariffs averaging some 12%.

若未达成一项共同协议，其中肯定包括给予欧洲渔民一些进入英国水域的机会，这些出口将面临缴纳世界贸易组织平均约为12%的关税。

In the past the EU has responded to fishing disputes with Norway and the Faroe islands by banning all imports.

在过去，欧盟会禁止一切进口来应对与挪威和法罗群岛的渔业争端。

British fishermen would soon find that, to borrow a phrase from the Brexiteers, “we need them more than they need us”.

英国渔民很快就会发现，借用脱欧支持者的话，“比起他们需要我们，我们更需要他们”。

Consumers would notice, too, since most of the fish on British dinner plates is imported.

消费者也会注意到的，因为英国人餐盘里的鱼大多数都是进口的。

A third of it comes from the EU, and British fishermen net about a sixth of their total catch in French, Belgian, Dutch, Danish or Irish waters.

其中三分之一来自于欧盟，英国渔民的渔网捕获的水产有大约六分之一来自于法国、比利时、荷兰、丹麦或爱尔兰的水域。

Britons may decide that they are willing to pay higher prices for the privilege of banning foreign vessels from British waters.

英国人可能决定他们愿意取得在英国水域禁止外国船只的特权，并为之支付更高的代价。

But such a rule would have to be enforced, at extra cost.

但是这样的法规将不得不付出额外成本强制推行。

The “cod wars” with Iceland in the 1950s-70s saw gunboats deployed to protect fisheries.

在二十世纪五十年代到七十年代，英国与冰岛的“鳕鱼战争”时，炮艇曾被部署用于保护渔业。

Some Brexiteers would doubtless enjoy such a muscular exertion of sovereignty.

一些脱欧者无疑喜欢这样展示主权国家的肌肉。

But for ordinary Britons who, since the referendum, have endured a squeeze on incomes comparable to that during the financial crisis of 2008, the fishing industry is a distraction.

但是对于普通英国人来说，公投后他们已经忍受着几乎与2008年金融危机期间一样程度的收入下降了，所以渔业问题是在转移视线。

The aviation business is bracing for a hard exit.

航空工业正在准备应对退出后面临的难关。

The finance industry, which contributes 7% of GDP, is in danger of decamping.

金融行业虽然贡献了7%的GDP，但是却存在撤出的风险。

Britain's Brexit negotiators have bigger fish to fry.

英国的脱欧谈判官有更重要的事要做。

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