A Village Protects Its Fishing Heritage
美西小城挽救傳統漁業
By Patricia Leigh Brown

MORRO BAY, California – Anyone seeking to learn about the fishing heritage of this port city, named for the huge rock that dominates its harbor, need only walk over to the “Liar’s Bench,” where fishermen are prone to telling tall tales. Or one could visit the Morro Bay Hookers, a thriving fraternity of fish-baiters who skewer anchovies and sardines onto hooks for a living, some 400 hooks per line.
加州港市莫羅灣以港內一塊巨石得名，想了解當地漁業傳統，步行前往漁民常在那裡吹牛的「膨風長椅」即可，或者拜訪「莫羅灣鉤人」，一個由餌釣漁民組成、日益壯大的同好團體，他們用鉤子串起一條條鯷魚及沙丁魚，約400個鉤子掛在一條線上，以此為生。

Although this city of 10,370 has become a haven for retirees and tourists, commercial fishing remains Morro Bay’s symbolic heart and a mainstay of its economy. Ever since the commercial fishery was declared a federal economic disaster in 2000, fishermen in this coastal community between Los Angeles and San Francisco have fought to hang on to their historic livelihood.
雖然人口1萬370人的莫羅灣市已成為退休族及觀光客的天堂，商業捕魚仍是當地的主要象徵及經濟支柱。自從美國聯邦政府2000年宣告當地的商業捕魚業深陷經濟困境以來，在這個介於洛杉磯與舊金山之間的濱海社區，漁民一直努力維繫過去賴以維生的這個產業。

Faced with increased competition from corporate fish processors in bigger ports, fishermen here have joined forces with scientists and civic leaders to determine their own fate. In June, Morro Bay became the first community on the West Coast to do what their brethren in Cape Cod have already done: set up a community quota fund meant to give small-scale fishermen more equal footing with big-time operators.
面對較大港市漁產公司越來越激烈的競爭，莫羅灣市的漁民與科學家及民間領袖聯合起來共同決定自己的命運。今年六月，莫羅灣仿效東岸的鱈魚岬，成為西岸第一個設立社區配額基金的城市，藉此讓小規模捕魚的漁民與大型漁產公司立足點更公平。

Quota is the amount of a particular species of fish that can be caught in a geographic area, and quota rights can be expensive, with larger fishing companies easily able to squeeze out small-scale fishermen. To solve that problem, the Morro Bay Community Quota Fund was established with fishing rights worth about $2 million for roughly 90 species; individual fishermen lease rights.
配額是漁民在某個地區可捕撈特定魚種的數量，配額權相當昂貴，大型漁產公司可輕易擠壓小漁民的生存空間。為解決此問題，莫羅灣以價值約200萬美元、約90種魚的配額權，成立社區配額基金，讓個別漁民租用這些配額。

With Americans eating most of their seafood from foreign waters, quota funds are an effort to keep fishermen near their home fishing grounds, and to make fishing financially viable and accessible to a younger generation.
在美國人食用的多數海產都來自海外之際，配額基金是把漁民留在自家漁場，讓捕魚業能賺錢，也讓年輕世代能夠投入的一個辦法。

“There is an implicit long-term value of having fishing in the community,” said Paul Parker, director of the Cape Cod Fisheries Trust, a pioneer of the concept in the United States. “It’s about saving maritime fishing heritage.”
鱈魚岬漁業信託首創美國此類基金，執行長帕克說：「讓港市保有漁業，絕對有長遠價值。這是在挽救濱海捕魚傳統。」

The Morro Bay fund’s fishing rights were originally own by the Nature Conservancy, which nine years ago started buying up the permits and boats of beleaguered fishermen wanting out of the business. Together, the conservancy, fishermen and scientists began exploring ways to harvest groundfish sustainably, using gear such as hook and line and traps to replace bottom trawling, a practice that devastates the marine environment
莫羅灣基金的捕魚權原由自然保育協會持有，協會九年前開始向經營困難打算歇業的漁民買下船隻和許可證。現在，自然保育協會、漁民及科學家開始一起探究永續捕撈底棲魚的辦法，以鉤、繩及籠取代破壞海洋環境的底拖網。

The goal of the fund is to make quota more affordable by leasing it, which is cheaper than buying. Rob Seitz, for instance, leases quota for 25 cents a kilo for the right to catch 45,000 pounds of petrale sole a year, for a total of $12,000. If he bought quota on the open market, he said, he would pay about five times as much, with no guarantee that the price would not skyrocket the next year.
配額基金設立宗旨是讓漁民租得起配額，比買便宜。例如，漁民塞茲以每公斤25美分租配額，一年可捕4.5萬公斤喬氏蟲鰈，只需1.2萬美元。他說若在公開市場買配額，價格約是五倍，還不保證隔年不會大漲。

Dean E. Wendt, a biologist at California Polytechnic State University in nearby San Luis Obispo, said of the quota fund. “It helps solve a critical problem: small communities over time losing fishing as a practice.”
附近聖路易斯奧比斯保市加州州立理工大學生物學家溫特談到配額基金時說：「它有助於解決一個重要問題：捕魚業逐漸從小城市消失。」

At the dock the other day, Mr. Seitz, 47, one of the first fishermen to take advantage of the fund and now its president, was unloading rockfish, the signature fish of Morro Bay.
47歲的希茲是最早利用莫羅灣市配額基金的漁民，目前擔任基金會長，那天他在碼頭上，把當地特產的石斑魚從船上卸下。

Mr. Seitz, a father of four, grew up fishing in Alaska. After skippering other people’s boats for 13 years in Astoria, Oregon, he became interested in a boat for sale in Morro Bay. To buy it, he said, he needed a loan, and to qualify for a loan, he needed access to affordable quota.
有四個孩子的希茲在阿拉斯加長大過程中一直從事捕魚業。他在奧勒岡州阿斯托里亞給別人的船當了13年船長後，看上莫羅灣一艘待售的船。他說，當時要買下那艘船，他得貸款，而為符合貸款資格，他得拿到負擔得起的配額。

“For a fisherman, a boat’s no good unless you have the fish to catch with it,” he said.
他說：「對漁民來說，除非船能用來捕魚，否則有船也沒用。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/07/us/creating-a-safe-harbor-for-a-village-heritage.html

2014-07-29聯合報/G5版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 馮克芸譯 原文參見紐時週報十一版下