A silly spat about seafood shows the sort of compromises that Brexit will force.

　　一场关于海产品的愚蠢争论暴露了英国脱欧面临的问题。

　　Britain’s fishing industry is a tiddler, contributing less than 0.1% of GDP. But the island nationhas great affection for its fleet.

　　英国的捕鱼业是非常小众的一方面，对英国GDP的贡献不足0.1%，但是这个岛国对他的舰队有着很深厚的感情。

　　During last year’s Brexit referendum campaign, a flotilla of trawlermen steamed up the Thamesto protest against European Union fishing quotas.

　　在去年的脱欧公投之中，一群拖网渔船工人的小型舰队出现在泰晤士河上来抗议欧盟的捕鱼配额。

　　On July 2nd Michael Gove, the Brexiteer environment secretary (who claims that his father’sAberdeen fish business was sunk by EU rules), announced that Britain would “take backcontrol” of its waters by unilaterally withdrawing from an international fishing treaty.

　　7月2日，脱欧支持者的环境部长迈克尔·戈夫(他宣称他父亲的阿伯丁鱼类生意因欧盟的规定而受创)宣布，英国将通过单方面退出国际捕鱼公约来夺回其对水域的控制权。

　　Gutting such agreements is strongly supported by coastal communities.

　　沿岸群众非常支持退出这类条约。

　　The pro-Brexit press cheered Mr Gove’s bold announcement.

　　支持脱欧的媒体对戈夫先生大胆的宣布大加赞扬。

　　But landing a new deal for British fishermen will be legally complex, expensive to enforce, oblige Britain to observe European rules that it has had no hand in setting and, most likely, leave its businesses and consumers worse off than before.

　　但是为英国渔民颁布一条新规定在法律上是非常复杂的，要付出高昂的代价，迫使英国去审视它曾无权置喙的欧盟制定的规定，而且也可能会使渔业和消费者们比以前更糟。

　　It is, in other words, a case study of the Brexit negotiations as a whole.

　　也就是说，这是对英国脱欧谈判整体的一个案例研究。

　　The EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) was drawn up before Britain joined, to its disadvantage.

　　《欧盟通用渔业政策》(CFP)早在英国加入之前就已经制定出来了，这虽然令英国处于不利地位。

　　But membership has allowed Britain to improve the policy.

　　但是会员的身份使得英国有权改进这项政策。

　　Countries’ quotas are now set on a basis that is more scientific than political.

　　现在每个国家的配额依据更多的是基于科学而不是政治。

　　Unwanted fish can no longer be discarded at sea, which has helped to reverse the depletion of stocks.

　　没人要的鱼不允许再被随意的丢进海里，这有助于扭转鱼类资源耗竭的问题。

　　Unpicking decades of tangled legal agreements will be harder than it looks.

　　理清长达数十年间错综复杂的法律协议是很困难的。

　　Mr Gove has initiated Britain’s withdrawal from the London Fisheries Convention.

　　戈夫先生已经发动英国从伦敦渔业协会退会。

　　But Michel Barnier, the European Commission’s Brexit negotiator, argues that this 1964 agreement has since been superseded by the CFP.

　　但是欧盟委员会的英国脱欧谈判官米歇尔·巴尼耶认为1964年协议已经被CFP取代了。

　　Regardless of these conventions, foreign fishermen may claim historic fishing rights going back decades or even centuries.

　　忽略这些公约的话，外国渔民可能会索要几十年甚至几个世纪以前的钓鱼权。

　　Many of them have set up units in Britain to buy quotas from British fishermen.

　　他们中的许多人已经在英国建立起组织以买英国渔民手中的配额。

　　Unless the government overturns these property rights by decree, it may face a large compensation bill.

　　除非政府通过法令废除这些财产权，否则它将会面临一大笔索赔。