Have you ever eaten Yangtze saury? It costs 8,000 yuan per pound.

Yangtze swordfish costs 8,000 yuan per pound, and netizens suggest declaring it a luxury item. The wholesale price of Jiang Dao for more than 2 taels is 5,200 yuan/jin. Scarcity and high prices have made it out of reach for most people. Netizens called for: saury, join the ranks of luxury goods! Two fish caught in six nets are becoming less and less. On the 15th, at Jiangyin Xiaohu Aquatic Products Market, the largest swordfish wholesale market in southern Jiangsu, the wholesale price of swordfish for more than 20 taels was 5,200 yuan/jin. But when we arrived at the aquatic products market in Changzhou City, the price of Jiang Dao was about 7,000 yuan per catty. This is not too ruthless. In a five-star hotel, the price of a 2-tael or more saury fish whose "identity" is unknown is around 1,000 yuan. Of course, there is also the condition of "one per person per table". The price of this swordfish is really prohibitive.

Scarcity and high prices have made it beyond the reach of most people. Netizens called for: saury, join the ranks of luxury goods!

The number of two saury caught in six nets is getting less and less< /p>

Due to the continued low temperature weather since spring has affected the migration of Yangtze saury, the daily market volume of Yangtze saury has decreased instead of increasing. The daily market volume of authentic Nanjing saury is less than 30 kilograms, and the price of a saury weighing 3.5 taels is The price has climbed from 4,000 yuan/catty at the beginning of the market to 8,000 yuan/catty, a new high in 10 years, and fishmongers operating in the market said prices will rise in the future. In 2 hours, the reporter followed the fishmonger and went to 4 boats. There were not many saury fish, and basically all the boats were empty.

The most profitable project in the aquatic product market

Most of the saury in the Changzhou market comes from Jiangyin Xiaohu Aquatic Product Market, and saury is also the first "big project" operated by aquatic product owners after the spring. ” is also the most profitable project. "If you make money this season, you will make money all year round!" said the aquatic product owner who has been operating here for more than ten years.

On March 14, more than two taels of Yangtze saury, called "Dazhong Dao" in their jargon, was sold at a wholesale price of 5,400 yuan/catty; and just a few days ago, on March 10 " "Dazhong Dao" costs 3,500 yuan per catty. "The market was good yesterday, and we sold about 200 kilograms at once. It rained all day today, so I guess I won't be able to sell it today." Boss Li waved his hand and said, "I estimate it will drop by five to six hundred yuan."

Contrary to the estimation of the fishery boss, the market conditions are very “strong”. Reporters noticed at the scene on the 15th that starting from 1:20 p.m., several trucks of swordfish sent from Chongming Island in Shanghai entered the market one after another, which heralded the opening of the market for the fresh swordfish caught that day. The bidding price of swordfish worth more than 2 taels has been rising from 4,000 yuan/catty. By 1:40, the price of saury with better quality has been stable at 5,200 yuan/catty. The second fishmonger tried to bargain, but the bosses who had good products refused to let go.

However, Erdao fishmonger who is familiar with the fish market said that the price will go down a bit at four or five o'clock in the afternoon. "On Friday, the sales in restaurants are the best. In addition, the cold air is coming, and the amount of fish is increasing." If it falls back, you can get more supplies."

Saury is valuable because of its freshness, and the price will be cut in half the next day. The reporter noticed that many swordfish sold overnight are priced at about 1,000 yuan to 2,200 yuan per catty for more than 2 taels. Unless they are particularly large, the price will be higher than 2,500 yuan per catty. As a result, most fishmongers will take the opportunity to eat these "overnight" saury. One of them, a fishmonger from Nanjing, ordered more than 20 kilograms of "overnight saury".

Some experts said that in the downstream sales, "the water is very deep", and there are many cases of shoddy products, substituting products, and fishing in troubled waters.

There are no more than 20 Xianjiang knives per day

A boss who has been in the saury business for 20 years told reporters that he has a special saury at Tuanjiesha Port in Chenjia Town, Chongming Island, Shanghai Buyer, that’s the first stop for swordfish trading. The buyer controls many fishermen. After the fishermen catch the fish, the buyer buys it. As soon as the saury fish lands, it is sent to the van bound for the small lake. "Changzhou, Jingjiang, Nanjing, and Jiangyin are the 'powerful places' for eating saury." The reporter saw on Sina Weibo that on the 14th, Nanjing netizens broke the news that the price of saury in the Nanjing market has reached as high as 8,000 yuan per catty.

The reporter’s on-site visit found that there was a mix of saury fish in the market, with most of them being “sea saury” and “lake saury” pretending to be “jiang saury”. In a fishery store, a reporter discovered that boxes of frozen saury actually came from Fujian. In the jargon, they are called "Min Dao" because they come from the Minjiang River in Fujian. There are also swordfish from Ningbo, which are called "Zhejiang swords". The same 2-tael swordfish, "Fujian sword" and "Zhejiang sword" only cost 500 to 1,500 yuan per catty.

An aquatic products boss told reporters that the saury that can be bought in the vegetable market, “are actually Hu Dao and Hai Dao, and the price is only a quarter of Jiang Dao, while the authentic fresh Jiang Dao There shouldn’t be more than 20 fish in the market every day!” And 90% of the so-called Yangtze saury comes from Chongming Island in Shanghai. "More than ten years ago, authentic swordfish could still be caught in the Changzhou section of the Yangtze River, but now all that can be caught are 'fish that slipped through the net.' Many swordfish were 'caught in one catch' by Shanghai fishermen as soon as they swam from the sea to the Yangtze River Estuary in Shanghai. The fish that can reach Nantong, Zhangjiagang, Jingjiang, and Changzhou are all fish that have a narrow escape."

"According to the old saying, the meat of saury is the most delicious when it reaches Changzhou, Zhenjiang, and Yangzhou, so it is here. The swordfish caught in several places are fetching sky-high prices,” said an industry insider.

The price has increased more than 20 times in ten years

In 2002, the purchase price of 500 grams of Yangtze saury was more than 200 yuan. In early March last year, more than 20 taels of saury were sold for nearly 200 yuan per 500 grams. 3,000 yuan, an increase of more than 10 times. This year it has reached around 5,000 yuan, an increase of more than 20 times in more than ten years. Fishmonger Li has been buying and selling saury for more than ten years. In his words, such high prices have made ordinary citizens prohibitive. The reporter learned from several five-star hotels in Changzhou that saury here is sold by the piece, while saury is mainly sold for business banquets to prove the worth and grandeur of the guests.

A swordfish weighing 4,500 to 5,000 kilograms is equivalent to one month’s salary of an ordinary civil servant, and equivalent to two months’ income of a migrant worker. Ordinary people will naturally not eat it. As a result, many netizens posted strong requests to help saury apply for luxury goods, and even proposed that saury should not be eaten for "three public consumption", and there were many supporters.

Luxury goods are defined as "a type of consumer goods that are unique, scarce, rare and beyond the scope of people's survival and development needs", also known as non-necessities of life. Yangtze saury has all these points, and its price does make most people feel that it is out of reach, and it has the characteristics of a luxury product.

Who is eating the Yangtze saury that costs 8,000 yuan per catty?

Who is eating the Yangtze saury that costs 8,000 yuan per catty?

Yangtze River saury, one of the famous three delicacies of the Yangtze River, saury, anchovy and puffer fish are collectively known as the three delicacies of the Yangtze River. The taste is very delicious, but once upon a time saury was a dish in ordinary people's homes. You can buy a pound of saury for a few yuan, but do you know how much saury sells for now? The most expensive one kilogram costs 8,000 yuan. No. It has become a luxury product. Who is eating such an expensive fish?

“In recent years, swordfish fishing output has declined exponentially, and swordfish resources are approaching the limit of utilization.” Zheng, a fishery expert who has studied swordfish reproduction for many years and is a representative of the Jiangsu Provincial People’s Congress Jin Liang called for a complete ban on fishing of Yangtze swordfish without delay in order to save the rare species.

The Yangtze River saury, the first of the "Three Delicacies of the Yangtze River" (swordfish, anchovy, and pufferfish), is shaped like a silver knife. It enters the river from the East China Sea in March every year, travels upstream, and spawns in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, ending in Jiangyin. The "Jiang Dao" produced in the Jingjiang and Jingjiang sections is the most delicious.

This is the New Year, but the yield is still low

“This is the New Year, and authentic Yangtze saury can be seen in the market almost every day, but the yield is very low.” Researches saury all year round Zheng Jinliang, a breeding aquaculture expert, said that last year was a bad year for the "Jiang Dao", and fishing output was the lowest in history. When the unit price is the most expensive, a swordfish with more than 3 taels sells for more than 8,000 yuan per 500 grams, which is a first-class product; 2 taels to 3 taels; a lower grade; 1 and a half to 2 taels, and then a lower grade; 1 tael Below half, the lowest level. With one grade difference, the selling price can vary by hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

2010 was a great year for "Jiang Dao", with the catch amount more than double that of last year, and the average price of first-class fish was three to four thousand yuan per 500 grams. "Since 2005, a certain pattern has been followed. Odd years are small years, and even years are big years." Zheng Jinliang explained that there are reasons why the output is similar every other year. Yangtze swordfish is a typical migratory fish species. It migrates from the sea to the Yangtze River every spring, and goes up the main stream to the middle reaches to spawn, as far as Dongting Lake. "In the autumn of the same year, the hatched swordfish return to the coastal waters. In the second year, they will not migrate to the Yangtze River to spawn. Instead, they will grow to the third year and then migrate into the river."

Although the swordfish The catch can be divided into big years and small years, but the general trend has been declining. Zheng Jinliang analyzed: "It is also a New Year, and this year's fishing output is obviously not as good as the previous year, and it is still low."

A daily drop of a thousand yuan, normal fluctuations

Jiangyin Aquatic Products Guidance Station Zhang Chengxiang, deputy director of the website, believes that the main reason for the frequent high prices of saury last year is that the output is low but the demand remains high. "Things are rare and expensive, and the price is determined by the supply and demand in the market." Zheng Jinliang said that the output of saury is small. There is no guarantee of stable supply every day, so the price often fluctuates greatly. "The day before yesterday, the first-class product was priced at 5,000 yuan per 500 grams. Yesterday it fell to 3,500 yuan, and today it rebounded to 4,000 yuan. We have long been used to it rising or falling by thousands of yuan a day. "It's within the normal range."

In Zheng Jinliang's memory, in 2002, the purchase price of the highest grade Yangtze saury was only about 200 yuan per 500 grams. In just 10 years, the price increased more than 20 times. .

In sharp contrast to the soaring prices, output has been decreasing year by year. Data show that the output of "Jiang Dao" along the Yangtze River in 1973 was 3,750 tons, about 370 tons in 1983, and the annual output after 2002 was less than 100 tons, 80 tons in 2010, and 12 tons in 2011... Among them, Jiangyin's catch of Yangtze saury in 2011 Less than 0.5 tons, only 0.28% of the 174 tons caught in 1956.

Ordinary citizens are intimidated

“Before the Qingming Festival, the fish bones are as soft as cotton, and after the Qingming Festival, the fish bones are as hard as iron.” After the Qingming Festival, the price of swordfish plummeted along with the taste. Previously, "Jiang Dao" was one of the most fashionable gifts in the Yangtze River Delta region. What best reflects its value is the steamed saury in restaurants.

In the eyes of many people, eating saury before Qingming Festival has become a status symbol. “No matter how expensive the swordfish is, I don’t have to worry about no one eating it. I’m just worried that there will be less fish and the restaurant will be scratching its head.

"An insider in the catering industry revealed that saury frequently appears in some business banquets to show off one's worth and status. "In March and April, a large hotel may earn tens of millions of yuan in sales from just one dish of saury. ”

A plate of steamed saury can easily cost thousands of yuan, so ordinary citizens are naturally discouraged. Most working-class people can only taste saury wontons occasionally. In fact, the saury wontons sold in Jiangyin restaurants now have a filling of The ingredients are almost all made of cheap "Haidao" plus fattened meat, egg whites, etc.

Indiscriminate fishing has caused disasters, and it is difficult to escape the net

The migration of "Jiang Dao" can be called "Jiang Dao". Tragically, every year at the beginning of spring, we encounter dragnets set by humans. In addition to regular fishing boats, there are also many illegal small trawl nets, deep-water nets and plunge nets in the river.

"Fishing technology. In recent years, there has been rapid development, equipment has become more and more advanced, and fishing intensity has become stronger and stronger. "Zheng Jinliang said that many areas of the Yangtze River Estuary are covered with fishing nets, from side to side and from bottom to bottom. It is difficult to let go of a fish that slips through the net. "Unlike before, fishermen drove small boats and cast small nets, and the fishing nets were all hand-woven. No matter how much you fish, it will not affect the reproduction of swordfish. ”

Zheng Jinliang said frankly: “Nowadays, a swordfish can only ensure safety if it follows the ship in the channel. Otherwise, if it accidentally turns the wrong turn, it will fall into the fishing net.” This is no joke. ”

Even if the swordfish is lucky enough to pass through the thousands of nets at the Yangtze River Estuary, there are still fishermen along the Yangtze River holding special fishing licenses waiting for them. “Only the lucky ones can swim to Jiangyin.” "Zheng Jinliang spent several years tracing the migration route of saury along the river, all the way to Anhui and Jiangxi. "Saury swims slowly, at about 1 kilometer per hour, and most of them die accidentally on the migration route. ”

If it weren’t for the talisman of “Jiang Dao”, which made its bones as hard as iron after the Qingming Festival and was no longer a delicacy, it might have become extinct long ago. The Yangtze River shad, which is also listed as one of the “Three Delicacies of the Yangtze River”, has experienced sharp declines in numbers over the years. The migratory route has been shortened and it has been extinct for more than 10 years.

The ten-year catch limit is more like a hunt

Zhang Chengxiang introduced that since 2002, the country has implemented saury fish migratory breeding season. Restricted fishing boats must hold a license to catch saury within a limited time.

“This year, Yangtze saury can be fished from March 1 to April 20 in Jiangyin. "Zheng Jinliang emphasized that the fishing limit time along the Yangtze River is different, and this period is only valid for Jiangyin.

"The ten-year fishing limit is not effective. Zheng Jinliang said bluntly that fishing restrictions are more like pursuits, “Wherever the swordfish migrates, fishing is allowed. If you really want to protect saury, you should avoid the flood season and implement a complete fishing ban. He said that many people are opposed to a complete ban on fishing. "Saury is a traditional economic fish in the Yangtze River and the main source of income for fishermen along the river." Once a total ban is imposed, how will fishermen be relocated? Then the demand will still be there and prices will be higher, which may stimulate illegal fishing to become more rampant. ”

Zheng Jinliang believes that a complete ban on fishing will indeed temporarily make fishermen less dependent on their livelihoods. “But even if it is not banned, if fishing is carried out at this rate, it will not be long before the fishermen say goodbye to saury sooner or later.” "

Zheng Jinliang added that the total ban on fishing is temporary. "It will only take five or six years for the Yangtze River saury to recover in large numbers. By then, fishing will resume, and both fishermen and diners will benefit. "If the swordfish becomes extinct, a few diners will just lose a delicacy; but for the Yangtze River, what is lost is a rare species." "

Yesterday afternoon, the reporter came to Jiangyin Baixing Xiaohu Aquatic Products Market, one of the largest saury wholesale markets in the country. In addition to "Jiang Dao", the market was filled with "Zhejiang Dao" and "Hu Dao" "Haidao" and many other copycat varieties. These saury fish are similar in appearance, but taste and value are very different, and vendors often pass them off as inferior ones.

"Jiang Dao" fish has a strong body and a sharp lower jaw. It is spiky, with fins on the side of the body and free filaments behind the fins, which are more than half the length of the body. The gills of fresh swordfish are bright red, and the scales are silvery, with no large areas of loss.

Zheng Jinliang. According to the introduction, after the "Jiang Dao" migrates into the river, the salt content in the fish body gradually weakens. When it reaches the Jiangyin and Jingjiang sections, the proportion of salt and fat is just right, and the taste is the most delicious. "It is caught in advance from Shanghai, Taicang, Changshu and other sections of the Yangtze River. The swordfish also belongs to 'Jiang Dao', but its grade and price are relatively low. "

"Zhedao" comes from Zhejiang. After growing up in the sea, he swam to the junction of the river and the sea and lived in salty water. The head is a little red and the taste is not as delicious as "Jiangdao".

The "Lake Knife" goes upstream from the Yangtze River estuary and enters tributaries and lakes to spawn, where it settles. Due to its "leisurely" life, its lower jaw no longer has a spiky shape, the filaments behind its fins have become shorter, and the fish body is smaller. Thin.

The "sea knife" is mostly male swordfish with thick meat. It is caught from offshore and transported to the market for many days. The body of the fish is often not firm, and some even have a broken belly.

< p>Never let the Yangtze River saury become a "specimen" for admiration

Never let the Yangtze saury become a "specimen" for admiration

Yangtze saury, one of the famous three delicacies of the Yangtze River Swordfish, anchovies and puffer fish are known as the three delicacies of the Yangtze River. They are very delicious, but once upon a time saury was a dish in ordinary people's homes. You can buy a pound of it for a few yuan, but do you know how much saury sells for now? The most expensive one kilogram costs 8,000 yuan, making it a luxury item.

(CCTV, April 3)

Yangtze saury has gone from a home-cooked dish more than ten years ago to a luxury product that is now the most expensive at 8,000 yuan per catty. According to this "speed", it is estimated that it will take about ten years. , this fish will completely disappear from people's dining tables, and eventually become like the extinct dinosaurs in ancient times, becoming a "biofossil specimen" for future generations to remember and admire. This is not impossible. This would be a tragedy for modern society and environmental protection.

If, like the ancient dinosaurs, the extinction of this species was due to the power of nature and changes in climate characteristics, it would be understandable. However, in the past few years, saury, which was regarded by humans as a delicacy like ordinary fish, has been killed by the development of modern industry and the spread of "environmental pollution". This cannot but be regretted. It is conceivable that if this "sky-high-priced swordfish" phenomenon is not regarded as a warning to protect the environment and existing biological species, I am afraid that in a few years many fishes like the swordfish will use the Yangtze River as an upstream migration, such as Nearly a dozen Yangtze River fish species, including eels and Songjiang perch that migrate downriver, and Chinese sturgeons and anchovies that migrate upriver, are also expected to become "living fossils" like saury (some sturgeons are already rarer than saury, Has become a "living fossil"). There is no doubt about the urgency of how to protect fish species represented by swordfish.

People should feel guilty in the face of the sky-high price of saury, instead of continuing to turn a blind eye and let fishermen make money and luxury rich people enjoy it as much as they want. We must have a sense of crisis and a guilty mentality to truly find the root cause of the "sky-high price" of saury. According to analysis, “the saury is in the middle of the entire migration process. If there is even a short area of ??water of one kilometer or two kilometers along the Yangtze River, once there is poor water quality or water pollution, the saury will not be able to pass through this water area, causing The entire migration activity is terminated. The immediate chain reaction after the migration activity is terminated is that the production of fish fry will decrease significantly, that is, the production of fish fry will be almost non-existent. "Environmental pollution is the first cause, and only by identifying the problem can we take the right treatment."

To solve the deterioration of similar fish living environment, it involves not only one place and one city, but also the entire river and related tributaries, lakes, and even the entire industrial enterprise to reduce or even stop the discharge of pollutants. Some localities and industrial production enterprises should see the crisis of environmental protection from the "sky-high price of swordfish" and realize that the deterioration of water quality will not only harm the living environment of swordfish, but also directly and indirectly harm humans; the Yangtze River should be upgraded and improved as a whole Starting with water quality, start by directly supervising every detail of pollutants discharged by relevant companies, and it is necessary to formulate an extremely stringent penalty system to reflect the sincere protection of water quality and fish. There is a "population law" in animal protection. The larger the number, the easier it is to recover. It is currently possible to re-establish this fish population. However, if the situation is allowed to deteriorate, it will take a few years to take the children to the museum to see the knife fish. "Specimens", I don't know how to explain it to the children.