密歇根新闻广播 北美五大湖鱼类产品价格下跌

 

It's the busy time of year for commercial fishing on the Great Lakes. But the price of whitefish is about half what it was three years ago, because of problems with international trade.

Interlochen Public Radio's Peter Payette has been covering this story. He says that this problem started with Russia.

"Two years ago, when Russia annexed¹ Crimea, western countries responded by imposing² sanctions on Russia. And Russia responded to that with its own sanctions, among which were bans on food imports from western countries. Canada used to send a lot of fish over to Russia, a lot of whitefish. And all of a sudden that was not possible anymore," he says.

New York is a big market for whitefish. So when Canada could no longer sell as much overseas, whitefish caught in Canada started flooding the New York markets at a cheaper price than American fish.

Dustin VanOrman runs a family fishing business at Big Stone Bay Fishery in Mackinaw City. He says this has caused a little bit of a price war.

"Which makes it hard to put a lot of fish in your freezer and bank on getting good money right now. I would think that as that sanction, if it's lifted, we would see the fish start to move back towards Russia and Ukraine, and that would just start to take some of the pressure off right here, which then again would bring prices back up," says VanOrman.

VanOrman says the price of whitefish is about half what it was three years ago, but he says those were some of the highest prices ever paid for whitefish.

Seasonal³ supply and demand

The problem with fishing for Great Lakes whitefish is that demand is highest in the summer, when restaurants are busy and families want to grill⁴ fish on the barbeque. But Payette says that's also the hardest time for fishermen.

"That's when it's the hardest to catch whitefish. They're out deeper, they're hard to get at. In the fall, they're easier to get because they come into shallower water, but there's not as much demand around here," he says.

But he says in New York, smokehouses and Jewish delis continue to buy whitefish from Great Lakes fishermen into the fall, especially in time for Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah in early October.

Payette says in our region, large whitefish processors and handlers are trying to reach local markets.

"They're making sure they're doing everything they can to sell fish in Michigan before trying to sell it on wholesale⁵ markets and shipping⁶ it by the truckload out to New York," he says.

1 annexed   

[法] 附加的，附属的

参考例句：

• Germany annexed Austria in 1938. 1938年德国吞并了奥地利。
• The outlying villages were formally annexed by the town last year. 那些偏远的村庄于去年正式被并入该镇。

2 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

3 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

4 grill   

n.烤架，铁格子，烤肉；v.烧，烤，严加盘问

参考例句：

• Put it under the grill for a minute to brown the top.放在烤架下烤一分钟把上面烤成金黄色。
• I'll grill you some mutton.我来给你烤一些羊肉吃。

5 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

6 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。