The Fishermen of Urban Paris巴黎市区的垂钓者

I’m walking in the busy streets of Paris behind two French men proudly holding fishing rods. We wind past patisse-ries1 and antique shops and curious looks， eventually stopping in front of Canal Saint-Martin—a historic 19th-century waterway that winds through the capital’s northeast and connects to the Seine River.

我走在巴黎熙熙攘攘的街头，跟在两名手提鱼竿、神气十足的法国男人身后。我们曲曲折折地行经糕点铺、古董店，还有人们投来的好奇目光，最终在圣马丁运河前停下了脚步。这条开凿于19世纪的古老水道蜿蜒流经首都东北部，与塞纳河相连。

Today， it is one of Paris’ most popular fishing spots， located smack2 in the middle of the city with traffic all around and kids sitting on the steps smoking cigarettes. A piece of plastic floats by in the canal and my guide， Fred Miessner， casts his rod straight into the water. “This isn’t a sewage system， it’s a river，” Miessner says. “Fish are living here and spawning3.”

如今，这里已是巴黎最受欢迎的钓鱼点之一。运河位于城市正中央，周围车水马龙，几个青少年坐在台阶上抽烟。水面上漂过一块塑料，我的向导弗雷德·米斯纳径直抛竿入水。“这不是下水道，这是条河。”米斯纳说道，“有鱼在这里繁衍生息。”

As the fifth-largest city in the European Union， Paris seems an unlikely place to catch fish. But in fact， fish have always been a part of Paris’ history; the first Parisians were fishermen by trade. In the 17th century， the Seine was teeming with more than 50 varieties of fish， including salmon， which was so abundant that it was known as a fish for the poor.

作为欧盟第五大城市，巴黎似乎并不像一个适合钓鱼的地方。然而，鱼一直是巴黎历史的一部分，最早的巴黎人便以捕鱼为生。在17世纪，塞纳河里生活着超过50种鱼，其中包括鲑鱼。那时鲑鱼的数量非常充足，因此它被称为“穷人的鱼”。

Eventually， industrial and agricultural runoff4 smothered the waterways and the canals， originally commissioned to provide city dwellers a source of drinking water， became terribly polluted. By 1900， salmon had disappeared from Parisian waterways. By 1995， only four species of fish—eel， redeye， bream and carp—were left.

后来，工农业废水汇入水道，原本为巴黎市民提供饮用水源的运河也受到严重污染。到了1900年，鲑鱼已从巴黎水道中绝迹。到1995年，河里就只剩下鳗鱼、红眼鱼、欧鳊和鲤鱼四种鱼。

In an attempt to clean up the waterways， the government ended up pouring 10 billion euros into the cause. It worked： Today， the Seine is thriving with life; there are roughly 32 species of fish that live in its waters.

为了清理水道，法国政府最终投入了100亿欧元。这项努力没有白费，如今的塞纳河重焕生机，大约32种鱼类栖息在这一水域。

In the early 2000s， Miessner， who owns a fishing gear company， started noticing increasing numbers of fish in the Seine. And so， on a whim， he decided to try fishing in the Seine with his friends.

2000年代初，拥有一家渔具公司的米斯纳开始注意到，塞纳河里的鱼越来越多。于是他突发奇想，决定和朋友们一起尝试在塞纳河钓鱼。

“It was unbelievable： There were so many fish and they were very easy to catch，” he says. What started out as a small community of Parisian fishers eventually ballooned to a full-on5 subculture of street fishing.

“简直难以置信，鱼多得不得了，而且非常容易上钩。”他说道。一开始巴黎垂钓者只是一个小圈子，最终膨胀成声势浩大的“街头垂钓”亚文化。

Daily， Miessner says he sees at least one other fisherman on his particular corner of the Canal Saint-Martin. Today， more than 6，500 city dwellers hold fishing permits. The modern street fishing culture is predominantly young males， dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt with just a rod and a small bag of lures—a far deviation6 from the floppy-hat-fishing-vest-stereotype of their parents’ generation. With the exception of the rods， street fishermen are completely inconspicuous and blend in seamlessly with the city.

米斯纳称，每天他来到圣马丁运河畔的特定角落，总能看到至少一位其他垂钓者。如今，已有超过6500名巴黎居民持有钓鱼许可证。现代街头垂钓爱好者以年轻男性为主，他们穿着休闲的牛仔裤和T恤，再带上一根钓竿和一小包鱼饵，与老一辈垂钓者戴宽边软帽、穿钓鱼背心的老套装束截然不同。除钓竿外，街头垂钓者毫不显眼，与城市融为一体。

“In the beginning when I had a rod out here people called me a fool. They said I had lost my mind，” Miessner says. “But now it’s been more than ten years. People aren’t that surprised anymore.”

“刚开始我在这里拿出钓竿时，人们都说我傻。他们说我脑子坏了。”米斯纳说，“但十几年过去了，现在人们已经见怪不怪了。”

But while there might be plenty of fish， you’re still not supposed to eat them. The waters in Paris are still quite polluted and heavy metals and PCBs7 have accumulated in the flesh of most of the aquatic8 creatures.

不过，虽然河里可能有许多鱼，但并不适合食用。巴黎的河水仍然受到严重污染，大多数水生生物体内都蓄积了重金属和多氯联苯。

Not everyone cares though. According to Miessner， some populations of Paris have a tendency to disregard such advice and will still eat the fish. But from a conservation standpoint， most street fishers tend to abide by a catch and release policy.

但也并非所有人都在意这些。据米斯纳说，部分巴黎人对此类警告不以为然，仍会食用这些鱼。但从生态保护的角度考虑，大多数街头垂钓者会遵循“获后放归”的原则。

“If you take a fish and you eat it， it disappears，” Miessner， who received his PhD in environmental economics， says. “It’s better if you catch a fish， you take a picture， and you release it. The fact is that we [the street fishers] were the pioneers that revealed that the fish were back.”

“如果你抓到鱼就吃掉，鱼就没有了。”米斯纳解释道，他是环境经济学博士，“更好的做法是钓到鱼，拍张照，然后放生。实际上，正是我们这些街头垂钓者率先发现鱼又回来了。”

There is no shortage of fish though; I can clearly see their shadows from where I am standing on the street. The canal indeed is teeming with life. Aquatic plants hug the surface on the water， dragonflies hover and dance. Miessner says he sees quite a few crawfish. Life in the Seine is quite resilient.

不过倒也不愁会没有鱼。我站在街边，就能清楚看到水中的鱼影。运河确实充满生机，水生植物紧贴水面，蜻蜓盘旋飞舞。米斯纳说，他还看到不少小龙虾。塞纳河中生物的生命力相当顽强。

In January 2015， the city drained the Canal Saint-Martin， took out the fish， cleaned up all the sludge9， and then put all the water back again.