评论
打印
In the narrow aisles of Golden Profit Trading, a store on Mott Street in Chinatown selling dried seafood and medicinal herbs, shelves are stocked with crates and glass jars full of ingredients not usually found outside this Manhattan neighborhood. It has dried squid, bird’s nest, abalone and, for the enhancement of energy and virility, sea cucumber.
金利商贸(Golden Profit Trading)坐落在曼哈顿唐人街的莫特街上，是一家专营海鲜干货和草药的店铺。在它狭窄的过道里，货架上的板条箱与玻璃罐里放满各种货物，出了曼哈顿这一带就很难找到，比如墨鱼干、燕窝、鲍鱼，还有能够健体壮阳的海参。
Yet one ingredient that regularly sold for at least $100 a pound is missing from the shelves, and has been missing for more than a year: shark fin.
然而这一年来，货架上少了一种以前的常备货物，一种至少要卖100美元一磅（一磅约合0.45公斤——译注）的东西——鱼翅。
In July 2014, New York State banned the possession, sale and distribution of shark fins, the key ingredient of shark fin soup, which is often served at traditional Chinese wedding banquets as a status symbol.
2014年7月，纽约州禁止拥有、零售和批发鱼翅，它是鱼翅汤的主料。这道菜往往作为地位的象征，出现在中国传统婚宴上。
Under the law, only fins from non-endangered shark species (spiny dogfish and smooth dogfish), lawfully caught by a licensed commercial fisherman, are exempt from the ban.
根据这项法律，只有持证商业渔夫捕捉的非濒危品种鲨鱼的鱼鳍（白斑角鲨和大星鲨）才合法。
An estimated 73 million sharks are caught each year for their fins, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation, with most of them thrown back into open waters to die. This month the conservation agency announced the first successful prosecution under the law, when Long Quan Seafood International Trading Corporation in Brooklyn pleaded guilty to felony commercialization of wildlife and paid a $10,000 fine for trafficking in shark fins. Officials seized more than 700 pounds of shark fins.
该州环保厅称，每年大约有7300万头鲨鱼因其鱼鳍遭到捕捉，它们当中大多数被割下鱼鳍后就会被抛入大海等死。本月，该环保厅声称，根据这项法律，已经有了第一起胜诉案例，布鲁克林的龙泉海鲜国际贸易公司承认犯有交易野生动物的重罪，因鱼翅的非法交易而付了一万美元罚款。官方从该公司缴获700多磅鱼翅。
Iris Ho, wildlife program manager for Humane Society International, spoke of the significance of the case.
国际人道对待动物协会(Humane Society International)的野生动物项目经理何燕青(Iris Ho)说，此案具有重要意义。
“This prosecution should serve as an effective deterrent for other seafood trading companies in New York and other states, as well as restaurants who could be sourcing illegal shark fins,” Ms. Ho said.
“这项控告对于纽约州及其他州的那些海鲜贸易公司，以及各种通过非法渠道采购鱼翅的餐馆来说，是一个有效的震慑，”何燕青说。
Despite this one case, a year into the ban, very few consumers or restaurants seem to have been much affected. Indeed, many Chinese customers, restaurateurs and dried-seafood vendors have adapted and even happily embraced alternatives to shark fin soup.
尽管该案获得胜诉，但该禁令实施一年来，似乎没有多少消费者或餐厅受到很大影响。大多数中国消费者、餐厅老板和海鲜干货商家适应了这项法律，甚至高兴地接受了鱼翅汤的替代品。
“I think that sea cucumber has a good future,” said Simon Wan, manager of the Jade Asian Restaurant in Flushing, Queens.
“我觉得海参前景不错，”皇后区法拉盛的明都大酒楼(Jade Asian Restaurant)经理温志刚(Simon Wan)说。
As a substitute for shark fin soup at weddings and other formal gatherings, Jade Asian has turned to serving sea cucumber, which is not a vegetable but an ocean-dwelling animal with a long, gelatinous body shaped like a soft-bodied cucumber, which shrinks to a ridged form when dried.
在婚宴和其他正式场合，明都大酒楼使用海参来代替鱼翅汤。海参不是蔬菜，而是一种长长的，身躯呈现胶质的海洋动物，形状有点像软软的黄瓜，风干后收缩成棱状。
Mr. Wan touted the sea cucumber as a nutritious source of energy and virility — and it is less expensive than shark fin, he pointed out, in part because it is easier to fish for and takes less time to prepare. Sea cucumber is soaked for two to three days, while shark fin requires about four days of preparation.
温志刚对海参大加吹捧，说它营养丰富，能增进活力，还能壮阳，而且比鱼翅便宜不少，部分是因为它容易捕捞，而且做菜前准备的时间也较短——海参只需泡发两三天，鱼翅则需要四天时间准备。
Across the street in Flushing at Mulan Modern Asian Cuisine, George Chu, the restaurant’s executive chef, said bird’s nest soup had replaced shark fin soup for their special-event dinners.
明都大酒楼街对面坐落着木兰(Mulan Modern Asian Cuisine)餐厅，餐厅的行政主厨乔治·朱(George Chu)说，他们在特殊晚宴上用燕窝汤代替鱼翅汤 。
In Hong Kong, bird’s nest soup has usually been seen as more of a dessert soup, Mr. Chu said. To elevate it to the status of shark fin soup, his kitchen combines bird’s nest — which is crystallized bird saliva from a swiftlet — with seafood soup stock.
乔治说，在香港，燕窝汤通常被视为甜品。为了把它提升到和鱼翅汤同等的地位，他的厨师们把燕窝（是用金丝燕的唾液凝结成的）和海鲜汤一同煮炖。
Mr. Chu added that there was a more immediate benefit to using this alternative: not having to withstand the fishy stench of the shark fin in his kitchen.
乔治说，使用这种替代品一个更立竿见影的好处是：不用忍受厨房里鱼翅的腥臭了。
“I don’t think shark fins taste good, anyway,” he said.
“反正我也不觉得鱼翅好吃，”他说。
That is not to say that full acceptance of shark fin soup alternatives happened overnight.
但人们也不是一夜之间就完全接受了鱼翅汤的各种替代品。
For one chef at a Chinese seafood restaurant on Eighth Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, who did not want to be named because he did not wish to publicly challenge the ban, only shark fin soup will do.
布鲁克林日落公园第八大道一家中国海鲜餐馆的一位大厨认为，鱼翅汤是不可替代的，他不愿公开挑战这项禁令，所以没有透露姓名。
“This is really and truly a very Chinese tradition,” he said. “Without it, the party is a low-grade experience.”
“它是货真价实的中国传统，”他说，“没有它，宴会就不上档次。”
Manfai Ngai, 78, a retired doctor who would routinely pick up a few ounces of dried shark fin cartilage from one of several shops along Main Street in Flushing, has rejected alternatives like imitation shark fin, which in some locations can be bought for $35 a pack.
78岁的退休医生葛曼斐(Manfai Ngai)习惯在法拉盛缅因街的店铺买几盎司干鱼翅，他不喜欢仿鱼翅之类的替代品。在有些地方，这种替代品可以卖到35美元一袋。
“Now they have this artificial kind made from mung bean,” Mr. Ngai said while walking along a stretch of stores not far from where he used to buy shark fin. “For myself, I don’t much like it.”
“现在他们用绿豆做假鱼翅，我一点也不喜欢，”葛曼斐在以前买鱼翅的店铺附近购物时说。
According to Peter How, president of the Asian American Restaurant Association, predictions of outraged parents of newlyweds expected to treat wedding guests to shark fin soup were overblown.
美国餐饮协会(Asian American Restaurant Association)会长何德兴(Peter How)说，人们本来觉得那些想在子女婚宴上用鱼翅招待宾客的父母会对禁令感到愤怒，这种估计有些夸大了。
If anything, Mr. How said, families have been happy to consider alternatives that carry the same degree of elegance at a lower price.
他说，现在的家庭其实都很乐于接受那些同样很上档次，但价格会更便宜的替代品。
“Now they don’t bring it up,” Mr. How said, referring to customers’ previous desire for shark fin.
“现在他们都不提鱼翅了，”谈起消费者们此前对鱼翅的需求时，何德兴说。
La He, who works at Golden Profit in Chinatown, said shark fin was not missed as a sale item.
在唐人街金利商贸工作的何拉（La He，音译）说，他们并不怀念鱼翅。
“It never sold well anyway,” she said this month as she dealt with a customer trying to negotiate the price of a box of bird’s nest.
“它本来也卖得不怎么好，”这个月，她一边说着，一边在和一位想买盒燕窝的顾客讨价还价。
As Ms. He and other Chinatown seafood vendors noted, shark fin was a hard sell for ordinary customers, given its high price.
何拉和唐人街上的其他海鲜商家指出，因为价格昂贵，普通消费者其实很少购买鱼翅。
Though some stores did see a loss.
不过也有些商店怅然若失。
To get rid of stock before the ban took effect, Xie Luomin, manager of the Po Wing Hong Food Market in Chinatown, said it sold off its shark fins at discounted prices to restaurants in New Jersey, where the shark fin trade is still legal.
为了在禁令生效之前清空库存，唐人街宝荣行食品市场(Po Wing Hong Food Market)的经理谢罗民（Xie Loumin，音译）说，市场按折扣价把库存的鱼翅卖给了新泽西的餐厅，那里的鱼翅贸易依旧是合法的。
At the Hong Kong Supermarket in East Brunswick, N.J., a large yellow sign hanging from the ceiling directed shoppers to a corner of the store where shark fin and other premium products were dispensed from jars behind a counter.
在新泽西州东布朗斯维克的香港超市，一块从天花板上悬挂下来的巨大黄色指示牌告诉购物者，商店角落有鱼翅等高价商品，商店把它们从柜台后面的罐子里拿出来分开摆放。
On a recent Saturday afternoon, a thick bundle of shark fin cartilage sprouted over the rim of a large glass jar labeled $199.99 a pound.
前不久的一个星期六下午，一大堆装在大玻璃罐里，满满溢出来的鱼翅被标价199.99美元一磅出售。
Shoppers walked by the counter, giving the fins little if any notice.
走到角落的购物者偶尔对它们瞥上一眼。
Aproned clerks from nearby checkout stations took turns going behind the counter for various errands and other sales, but no one wanted shark fin that day, they said.
戴着围裙的店员从附近的收银台过来，轮流到柜台后面做各种差事，或者卖点别的东西，他们说，今天没有人买鱼翅。
Wu Jianrong, 52, originally from Guangdong Province in China, has been working in the store’s produce department for three years, yet he was only peripherally aware that shark fin was sold there.
52岁的吴建荣来自中国广东省，他在这个商店的生产部门工作了三年，但他只是隐约听说店里有鱼翅卖。
“I enjoy it, but I would not buy it myself,” he said in Mandarin.
“我爱吃鱼翅，但我自己不会买，”他用普通话说。
The last time he said he had the soup was over a year ago at a wedding banquet in Brooklyn.
他说，自己上一次吃鱼翅汤是一年前，在布鲁克林参加婚宴的时候。
“It was good, but not something most people can afford,” he said. “Rent comes first.”
“味道是不错，但不是大多数人买得起的，”他说，“还是先付房租要紧。”
