长江刀鱼明年起或禁捕 食客争饱口福价格飙升

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.

一项尚在酝酿中的规定或将禁止捕捞长江刀鱼，上海食客品尝这一或将"绝迹"的餐桌江鲜美食的兴趣也因此空前高涨，这使价格本就昂贵的刀鱼贵出了新境界。

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.

刀鱼现在的价格同比翻了一番，创4年内最高。二两以下的刀鱼售价约为4000元/公斤，大刀鱼的售价高达1.2万元/公斤。

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

一位经验丰富的餐馆员工表示，她从来没见过人们对这种鱼有这么高涨的兴趣。

"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.

这位在老半斋餐馆工作的刘姓女收银员表示：“我从中学毕业以后就一直在这里工作，已经超过40年了。我们从未有过这么多的顾客。”

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.

这家历史悠久的餐馆成立于1904年，该店的蒸刀鱼和刀鱼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.

刘女士上周二告诉中国日报，鱼汤面卖出的数量每天都在上涨，也别是从本周开始。她还补充说道，仅在晚餐时刻，该餐馆就已经卖出了1100碗面条。

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，农业部发布文件，就将长江刀鱼列入保护动物名录公开征求意见，若刀鱼被列入名录，今年将是可以合法食用刀鱼的最后一年。刀鱼也被认为是长江的四大美食之一。