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| The hunters waded into the water after dark, their headlamps beaming as they tossed nets into the crashing waves over and over again. |
| 天黑后，捕捞者戴着强光头灯涉水而下，一遍又一遍地在汹涌的海浪中撒网。 |
| All night, they shook muck from the nets, sorting out their prizes: wriggling, transparent baby eels, each no thicker than a vermicelli noodle. They were worth their weight in gold, or nearly. The fishermen dropped them into jars of water, which some of them hung around their necks on string. |
| 整个晚上，他们都在抖落渔网里的淤泥，挑出其中的宝贝：蠕动的透明鳗苗，一条还不如一根粉丝粗。它们的价值相当或接近于同等重量的黄金。渔民将其放入水罐，有些人还用绳子将罐子挂在脖子上。 |
| “Sometimes it’s gold, sometimes it’s dirt,” said Dai Chia-sheng, who for a decade had spent his winters fishing for glass eels, as the baby eels are called. Brought in by the ocean currents every year, the eels had lured families like Mr. Dai’s to Taiwan’s coasts for generations. |
| “有时是金子，有时是泥巴，”十年来一直在冬季捕捞鳗苗——也就是玻璃鳗——的戴嘉昇说。玻璃鳗每年都随洋流而来，吸引了几代人前往台湾沿岸，戴嘉昇这样的渔户就是其中之一。 |
| But the lure is fading. |
| 但这种吸引力正在衰减。 |
| “We used to see the industry as profitable, but now more and more people have doubts,” Mr. Dai said. |
| “我们以前觉得这一行能赚钱，但现在越来越多的人不那么确定了，”戴嘉昇说。 |
| Around the world, there are far fewer eels than there used to be. Conservationists say that the most commonly traded eel species are threatened. In Taiwan, as elsewhere, their numbers have dropped because of overfishing, the loss of their riverside habitats to development and, more recently, climate change, said Han Yu-shan, a professor at the Institute of Fisheries Science at National Taiwan University. |
| 全球范围内的鳗鱼数量都在锐减。环保人士称，买卖量最大的鳗鱼品种正面临威胁。国立台湾大学渔业科学研究所教授韩玉山表示，和其他地方一样，由于过度捕捞，土地开发导致其水边栖息地丧失，加之近来的气候变化，台湾鳗鱼的数量已经在下降。 |
| In the 1980s and ’90s, Taiwan’s eel industry was thriving, fueled by Japan’s appetite for unagi. There were years when exports to Japan alone totaled $600 million. But those days are gone. |
| 上世纪八九十年代，由于日本对鳗鱼的热衷，台湾鳗鱼产业得到蓬勃发展。曾有几年，台湾光是对日本的出口总额就达到6亿美元。但那样的日子一去不复返了。 |
| In 2022, Taiwan exported just $58 million worth of eels in total. China, whose vast deepwater fleet has been accused of endangering fishing stocks worldwide, long ago eclipsed Taiwan as Japan’s main source of imported eels. |
| 2022年，台湾总共仅出口了价值5800万美元的鳗鱼。中国早就超越了台湾，成为日本进口鳗鱼的主要来源，而其庞大的深海船队被批评危害全球渔业资源。 |
| Professor Han said that while global warming’s effects on eels had not been closely studied, fishermen in Taiwan think that changes in temperature affect the tides that bring in their catch. |
| 韩玉山表示，虽然全球变暖对鳗鱼的影响还未得到仔细研究，但台湾渔民认为，温度变化会影响潮汐，从而影响他们的渔获。 |
| “The warmer the seawater is, the lower the fish would swim,” which makes them harder to catch, said Kuo Chou-in, 68, president of the Taiwan Eel and Shrimp Exporters’ Association. |
| “海水越暖，鱼就会越往深处游，”导致捕捉难度更大，68岁的台湾区鳗虾输出业同业公会会长郭琼英说。 |
| Fishermen like Mr. Dai sell their eels to wholesalers along the Lanyang River in Yilan County, easily spotted by the signs that read “accepting eels.” Wholesalers pay as much as $40 per gram — gold is about $63 for the same amount — with about six eels to a gram. |
| 戴嘉昇这样的渔民会在宜兰县兰阳溪沿岸将鳗鱼卖给批发商，后者“收购鳗鱼”的牌子非常显眼。批发商的收购价高达每克——大约六条——40美元，而黄金价格在每克63美元左右。 |
| From there, they go to aquaculture farms, where they are raised to maturity. (To protect its dwindling stocks, Taiwan has banned the export of glass eels during the winter fishing season, but many are smuggled out as part of a global, multibillion-dollar black market.) |
| 这些鳗鱼从这里被送往水产养殖场培育至成年。（为保护不断减少的鱼群，台湾禁止在冬捕期间出口玻璃鳗，但走私量依然庞大，流入了规模达数十亿美元的全球黑市。） |
| Before being flown to Japan and other countries, mature eels’ last stop in Taiwan is a packaging plant, where they’re packed in bags of water with thick slabs of ice. Ms. Kuo, the export association president, owns one of those plants, in the northern city of Taoyuan. |
| 成年鳗鱼在被空运至日本等国家之前，还要来到台湾的最后一站，在包装厂里被放入装有沉重冰块的水袋。郭琼英在台湾北部的桃园市就拥有一家这样的工厂。 |
| She is a rare woman in a male-dominated industry. On a winter evening, she strode the floor of her plant in galoshes, talking to clients on the phone and occasionally dipping her arms into vats, to catch the slithering eels and sort them into streams. |
| 在这个由男性主导的行业中，她是罕有的女性。在一个冬天的夜晚，她穿着套鞋在工厂里大步流星，和客户打电话，偶尔把手伸进池中抓住游动的鳗鱼，将其分类放入管道。 |
| Ms. Kuo began her career at 21 with a Japanese import-export company that dealt in, among other things, eels. She caught her first glimpse of them as an interpreter, during a site visit at a packaging plant. She was fascinated by how the workers, using only their hands, caught the eels and accurately judged their weight. |
| 郭琼英是21岁入行的，当时进了一家经营鳗鱼等产品的日本进出口公司工作。她第一次见到鳗鱼，是在作为翻译参观一家包装厂的时候。看到工人们赤手就能抓住鳗鱼并准确判断其重量，她感到十分惊奇。 |
| After 17 years at the company, Ms. Kuo lost her job when Japan’s bubble economy crashed. She went into business for herself in 1992, depleting her savings and mortgaging two properties to buy factory equipment. She said she slept in her car for years. |
| 郭琼英在那家公司任职17年，因日本泡沫经济崩溃失业。1992年，她自行创业，拿出全部积蓄购置工厂设备，还抵押了两套房产。她说，有很多年自己都是在车里过夜的。 |
| Eventually, the frugality and hustle led to a grander lifestyle. Ms. Kuo now drives a convertible and has been profiled in Taiwanese media (which dubbed her “the eel queen.”) She once appeared on a Japanese television show to cook samples of her product for a panel of judges. |
| 最终，这样的勤俭换来了富贵的生活。郭琼英如今的座驾是一辆敞篷车，台湾媒体报道她的生平（还称她为“鳗鱼女王”）。她曾做客一档日本电视节目，为评委们烹饪她的产品样品。 |
| “The Taiwanese eels won the competition,” she recalled with a smile. “Our eels are the best.” |
| “台湾鳗鱼赢得了比赛，”她笑着回忆道。“我们的鳗鱼就是最好的。” |
| Glamour is harder to find in the often-polluted estuaries where glass eels are caught. The fishermen stand for hours, dipping basket-like nets in and out of the water, or they swim out after tying themselves to metal anchors on the beach. |
| 在经常受到污染的河口捕捞鳗鱼就没那么光鲜亮丽了。渔民们一站就是几个小时，将篮状的渔网一次次浸入水中，或用海滩上的金属船锚将自己拴住，然后游出更远的地方。 |
| Chen Chih-chuan, a part-time technician, said he almost died once while swimming for eels. “I lost the strength to pull the rope. I let go and let myself float in the sea,” he recalled during a break along the Lanyang River. |
| 陈志川是一名兼职技术员，他说有次自己差点在水中捞鳗时丧命。“我没力气拉住绳子了。我放了手，让自己在海上漂着，”他在兰阳溪边休息时回忆道。 |
| “Now I’m older and more experienced,” said Mr. Chen, who wore a green, rubbery full-body suit and yellow boots. “I won’t push myself to that extent.” He leaped back into the waves. |
| “现在我年纪大了，经验也更多了，”陈志川说，他穿了一身绿色的橡胶连体服和一双黄色靴子。“我不会再把自己逼到那种程度。”说完他又扑入海浪之中。 |
| Mr. Chen said he had managed to make $8,000 this season — an amount he was satisfied with, though down from previous years. |
| 陈志川说他在这个捕捞季赚到了8000美元，尽管不如往年，但还是比较满意。 |
| The price of eels plummeted during the pandemic, as restaurants closed and global shipping was thrown into disarray. |
| 疫情期间，因为餐馆关门，全球航运陷入混乱，鳗鱼价格也出现暴跌。 |
| Chang Shi-ming, 61, caught eels as a young man near the city of Changhua on Taiwan’s western coast. In the early 1990s, a sprawling petrochemical plant went up there. Smoke and steam rise from its many chimneys, blanketing the nearby grass with white dust. He said the harvest has never been the same. |
| 61岁的张世明年轻时曾在台湾西海岸的彰化市附近捕捞鳗鱼。上世纪90年代初，当地建起了一座巨型石油化工厂。大量烟囱排放出烟雾和蒸汽，附近的草地都被白灰覆盖。他说，捕捞的收获再也不复当初了。 |
| “We’ve seen so much damage over the past years,” Mr. Chang said. “There are very few eels this year.” That, at least, is what he hears; about 20 years ago, Mr. Chang switched to cultivating clams, which is less labor-intensive. |
| “过去这些年，我们看到了如此多的破坏，”张世明说。“今年的鳗鱼已经很少了。”至少，他听到的情况是这样；大约20年前，张世明就转行做了劳动强度没那么大的蛤蜊养殖。 |
| His eldest son works at the petrochemical plant. “It’s just a job,” Mr. Chang said. |
| 他的大儿子就在那座化工厂工作。“只是为了混口饭，”张世明说。 |
| Chiang Kai-te, 43, a part-time construction worker, had spent many years working odd jobs when a friend’s success convinced him to try eel fishing. He moved from his hometown to a village by the Lanyang River. He saw his 4-year-old son and his parents only on weekends, when they visited. |
| 43岁的蒋凯德是一名兼职建筑工，多年来一直在打零工，直到有位朋友成功劝说他尝试以捞鳗为生。他从老家搬到了兰阳溪边的一个村庄。他只能在周末与来访的四岁儿子和父母团聚。 |
| The work had proved hard to master and the nightly catch difficult to predict, ranging from 10 to 100 baby eels. On a recent outing, he caught fewer than 20. |
| 事实证明，要精通这份活计很难，夜间捕捞鳗苗的收获也不好说，从10条到100条都有可能。在最近一次出海中，他的收获还不到20条。 |
| “It’s hard to cash in,” said Mr. Chiang, slumped on the ground from exhaustion. “My whole family relies on me.” He said he was on the verge of quitting. |
| “很难赚到钱，”蒋凯德说，他筋疲力尽地倒在地上。“全家人都指望我。”他说自己快要放弃这一行了。 |
| “I don’t think it’s sustainable to keep doing this,” he said. |
| “我想这么下去早晚无以为继，”他说。 |
| Nearby, half a dozen retirees were having a better time, grilling chicken wings around a small pit. They were members of the Amis tribe, one of Taiwan’s Indigenous ethnic groups. |
| 不远处，几位退休老人正围着一个小土坑烤着鸡翅，十分享受。他们是阿美族人，那是台湾的一个原住民族群。 |
| Eel fishing was not an Amis tradition, but the friends had been spending their winters in Yilan County for a decade, setting up camp in tents fitted with wooden doors. After fishing, they would crack open beers and talk cheerfully into the night. |
| 捕捞鳗鱼不是阿美族传统，但这一行友人在宜兰县过冬已有十年了。他们在装有木门的帐篷里扎营，捕捞结束后，他们会喝着啤酒，畅聊到深夜。 |
| “We’re here not just for eels, but also for spending time with friends,” said Wuving Vayan, 58, who was using a grimy flotation device as a makeshift stool. “It’s one of the happiest moments during a year.” |
| “我们来这里不只是为了鳗鱼，也是为了和朋友们共度时光，”58岁的乌文瓦颜（音）说，她找来一块脏兮兮的浮具当凳子坐。“这是一年中最快乐的时间之一了。” |
| “We can’t control the changes of the climate,” she added. “All we can do is pray for good weather and harvest.” |
| “气候的变化我们控制不了，”她还说。“所能做的只有祈求风调雨顺和丰收了。” |
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