長江刀魚明年起或禁捕 食客爭飽口福價格飆升

A regulation in the pipeline that would ban fishing for knife fish in the Yangtze River has created an unprecedented surge of interest in Shanghai to eat what could be the last bite of the river delicacy, pushing the price up of the already expensive fish.

一項尚在醞釀中的規定或將禁止捕撈長江刀魚，上海食客品嚐這一或將"絕跡"的餐桌江鮮美食的興趣也因此空前高漲，這使價格本就昂貴的刀魚貴出了新境界。

The prices are double last year's and more than at any time during the past four years. Knife fish weighing less than 100 g each sell for around RMB4,000 per kg. Bigger fish sell for as much as RMB12,000 per kg.

刀魚現在的價格同比翻了一番，創4年內最高。二兩以下的刀魚售價約爲4000元/公斤，大刀魚的售價高達1.2萬元/公斤。

One veteran restaurant worker said she had never seen so much interest in the fish.

一位經驗豐富的餐館員工表示，她從來沒見過人們對這種魚有這麼高漲的興趣。

"I have been working here since I graduated from middle school more than 40 years ago, and we have never had so many customers," said the woman, a cashier at the Lao Ban Zhai restaurant who gave her surname as Liu.

這位在老半齋餐館工作的劉姓女收銀員表示：“我從中學畢業以後就一直在這裏工作，已經超過40年了。我們從未有過這麼多的顧客。”

The historic eatery, which was founded in 1904, has long been famous for its steamed knife fish and knife fish with noodle soup in Shanghai and beyond.

這家歷史悠久的餐館成立於1904年，該店的蒸刀魚和刀魚面在上海一直都是非常出名的。

The number of bowls of fish soup noodle being sold "has been picking up every day, especially since this week", Liu told China Daily on last Tuesday, adding that the restaurant sold more than 1,100 bowls during dinner.

劉女士上週二告訴中國日報，魚湯麪賣出的數量每天都在上漲，也別是從本週開始。她還補充說道，僅在晚餐時刻，該餐館就已經賣出了1100碗麪條。

Late in December, the Ministry of Agriculture issued a document soliciting public opinion on listing knife fish and shad in the Yangtze as protected species. If the change is passed, this year could be the last that people will legally be able to eat the fish, which is considered to be one of the top four delicacies from the river.

去年12月底，農業部發布文件，就將長江刀魚列入保護動物名錄公開徵求意見，若刀魚被列入名錄，今年將是可以合法食用刀魚的最後一年。刀魚也被認爲是長江的四大美食之一。