據外媒報道，過去8年，澳大利亞維省海岸小鎮金星灣(Venus Bay)成為挖蜆勝地，尤其在盛夏，逾2500名“一日游”游客自墨爾本涌入，絕大多數是中國人。這股挖蜆熱潮引起當地居民強烈不滿，更衍生割車胎、破壞財物等罪行。居民堅稱沒有種族歧視，而是擔心游客造成的環境及社會問題。

Tyre slashing, vandalism and racially charged incidents are all part of the storm that has been brewing in the otherwise quaint Victorian coastal town of Venus Bay.
維多利亞省古樸的海岸小鎮金星灣接連上演割車胎、破壞財物、種族歧視等事件，一場風暴正在醞釀。

And it all centres on the innocuous shellfish - the pipi.
而這場風暴的中心竟是無毒貝類生物——蜆。

At the height of summer, when the conditions are right, more than 2,500 predominately Chinese people can be found digging up the coastline of Venus Bay, 175 kilometres south-east of Melbourne, in search of pipis to eat.
金星灣位于墨爾本東南邊175公里處，盛夏時節適宜挖蜆，到這時會有2500多人在金星灣海邊挖蜆來當食材，其中主要是中國人。

It has prompted a fierce push back by locals, who insist their concerns about the daytrippers are not racist but are instead driven by environmental and social concerns.
此事引發了當地人強烈的不滿，他們堅稱對“一日游”游客的擔憂并非源于種族歧視，而是顧忌因此造成的環境及社會問題。

Scientists and authorities are now conducting research aimed at eliminating the emotional elements of the debate in an attempt to quantify the ecological impact of pipi harvesting.
科學家和政府正在進行研究，試圖量化挖蜆的生態影響，以消除這場爭論中的情感因素。

A brief pipi history
金星灣的挖蜆史

Ever since the 1960s when the area around Venus Bay was first developed, the inconspicuous shellfish found under the sand at low tide has been harvested both commercially and recreationally for bait.
自20世紀60年代起，金星灣周邊地區得到開發，退潮時挖蜆作魚餌成了這里的一項商業及消遣活動。

But over the past eight years, the town, home to a mere 500 permanent residents, has become a hotspot for pipi harvesting among Melbourne's Chinese community.
金星灣常住居民只有500人，但過去8年，這里成為墨爾本華人的挖蜆勝地。

On a busy summer's day, thousands of pipi harvesters dig up the main beach in search of the shellfish.
到了熱鬧的夏季，一天就有數千人在金星灣最大的沙灘“一號灘”挖蜆。

Locals have become frustrated with the stress visiting pipi harvesters place on the town's amenities - the car parks, rubbish bins, public toilets - even claiming it restricts emergency service access to the beach.
前來挖蜆的游客給金星灣的停車場、垃圾桶、公共廁所等設施帶來壓力，這讓當地居民感到困擾。當地人甚至聲稱，游客阻礙了應急服務進入沙灘。

Beyond the changing dynamic of the town though, there are concerns the rapid increase in pipi harvesting is seeing the species' populations being depleted beyond repair.
除了這些變化，還有人擔心挖蜆數量迅速增長使得種群數量減少到無法恢復的程度。

John Morrongiello, a lecturer of marine biology at the University of Melbourne, is conducting a study into the impact of pipi harvesting at Venus Bay.
墨爾本大學海洋生物系講師約翰?莫倫哲路正在研究挖蜆對金星灣的影響。

"At the moment there's a degree of he-said, she-said going on; what we really need is some hard facts and that is our role as scientists to do an objective research project."
她表示：“目前存在許多公眾爭論，我們真正需要的是確切證據，而科學家要做的就是進行客觀研究。”

Authorities have responded to specific concerns of over-fishing.
政府已經就民眾對過度捕撈的擔憂做出了反應。

In Venus Bay, unlike the rest of Victoria, you can now only take two litres of pipis rather than five.
維多利亞的其他地方可以挖5升蜆，而在金星灣，你只能挖2升。

No tools like spades can be used, only hands and feet.
禁止使用鏟子等工具，只能用手和腳。

Police and the Fisheries Department have also set up road blocks during the busy period to search cars.
警察和漁業部門在挖蜆高峰期還會設置路障，檢查車輛。

A matter of perception
對華人的認同問題

Anthropologist Lisa Hatfield is a PhD candidate at Latrobe University in Melbourne who has spent the past three years investigating the social impacts of pipi harvesting at Venus Bay.
人類學家麗莎?哈特菲爾德正在拉籌伯大學的攻讀博士，過去3年里，她一直在調查金星灣挖蜆潮的社會影響。

She was drawn to the dispute over the "unassuming little critter" because it raised wider questions about Australia's attitudes toward multiculturalism and identity.
她之所對這個“不起眼的小生物”引發的分歧很感興趣，是因為由此引出了更多關于澳大利亞對多元文化和身份認同的態度的問題。

"The issues the locals had with the pipi harvesters were that they were coming for just one purpose; they were coming in organised groups to collect pipis in commercial quantities," she said.
她說：“挖蜆游客前來目的只有一個，他們組團來挖蜆，挖到的數量已具有商業價值。這讓當地人很不滿。”

"They said it was their culture to take everything.
“居民稱，掃蕩是他們的文化。”

"There were also complaints they weren't actually contributing to the local economy in any way."
“還有人抱怨挖蜆游客對本地經濟根本沒有任何貢獻。”

After inspecting the beach herself, Ms Hatfield found these ideas were "often the exception rather than the rule".
經過親身觀察，哈特菲爾德發現這種觀點“通常是個例而不是普遍情況”。

"Locals were drawing on longstanding ingrained stereotypes we have about Asian people in Australia," she said.
“當地人的看法源于澳大利亞人對亞洲人根深蒂固的印象。”

Despite this, Ms Hatfield said there were still valid concerns about the pipi harvesting at Venus Bay.
不過哈特菲爾德表示，當地人對金星灣挖蜆潮的憂慮也存在合理性。

"The locals felt they were being dismissed and being called racist, when in a way they are coming to grips with the changes that are going on at Venus Bay.
“他們在適應金星灣發生的變化時，感到被忽視并被指種族歧視。”

"They're concerned that they're losing their sense of place and their sense of belonging."
“他們擔心失去存在感和歸屬感。”

Are pipi populations depleting?
蜆的數量大幅減少了嗎？

Down at Beach One, Dr Morrongiello and his field assistants conduct monthly check-ups of the pipi population.
莫倫哲路博士和他的現場助理們每月都會對“一號灘”的蜆數量進行核算。

With just a year's worth of data, Dr Morrongiello said he was hesitant to jump to any conclusions about how the pipis were being impacted by harvesters.
由于只有一年的數據，莫倫哲路說，他還無法就挖蜆者對該生物產生的影響得出任何結論。

"Every time we harvest a population, we're impacting on the biology there, so yes we are having an impact on the pipis," he said.
“每當我們對一個物種進行捕撈，就會對當地的生態產生影響，所以對蜆有影響是肯定的。”

"What we don't know is how much of an impact that is."
“我們不清楚的是，這種影響有多大。”

What next for Venus Bay?
金星灣未來該怎么辦

Ms Hatfield described Venus Bay's beach as a segregated space - locals in one area and "pipi hunters" in another.
哈特菲爾德將金星灣稱成為一個被撕裂的地方，當地人在一邊，“挖蜆者”在另一邊。

She said creating more common space could be one solution.
她認為，創造更多的公共空間是一種解決方法。

"To have a space that's more welcoming and accepting of both beach users.
“創造一個對兩方都更加歡迎和接納的空間。”

"Finding that common ground is really important to the town moving on."
“找到這樣一個共同空間對于金星灣的發展至關重要。”

英文來源：ABC
翻譯&編輯：董靜
審校：丹妮