VOA慢速英語：科學家通過衛(wèi)星得出商業(yè)捕撈對公海的影響

Satellites See Fishing Industry’s Effects on the High Seas

科學家通過衛(wèi)星得出商業(yè)捕撈對公海的影響

Until recently, scientists had trouble identifying what was causing large numbers of fish to disappear from the high seas.

直到最近，科學家都很難確定是什么原因導致大量魚類從公海消失。

Now they have an answer: human beings.

現在答案出來了，那就是人類造成的。

By using emergency signals from ships, scientists got what they are calling the first complete picture of commercial fishing worldwide. And a new study claims the effect is much bigger than researchers thought.

通過使用船只發(fā)出的緊急信號，科學家們獲得了他們所謂的首張全球商業(yè)捕撈的完整圖片。一項新的研究聲稱，其影響遠遠超出了研究人員的設想。

Major commercial fishing covers more than 55 percent of the oceans. The world's fishing fleet travels more than 460 million kilometers a year, according to a study in the journal Science. That is equal to three times the distance between Earth and the sun.

大型商業(yè)捕撈覆蓋了55%以上的海洋面積。根據《科學》雜志發(fā)表的一項研究，全球漁船隊每年的行程超過4.6億公里，這相當于太陽到地球之間距離的三倍。

Five countries do 85 percent of high seas fishing. The five are China, Spain, Taiwan (China), Japan and South Korea.

五個國家(或地區(qū))占到了公海捕魚量的85%，它們分別是中國、西班牙、中國臺灣地區(qū)、日本以及韓國。

Boris Worm, a marine biologist at Dalhousie University in Canada, called the fishing study "mind-blowing." Worm helped prepare a report on the findings. He likened industrial fishing to factories that are mass producing goods for people around the world.

加拿大達爾豪斯大學的海洋生物學家鮑里斯·沃姆(Boris Worm)稱這項捕撈研究“令人大吃一驚。”沃姆幫助準備了這項研究報告。他將工業(yè)捕撈比作為世界人民大量生產產品的工廠。

The latest fishing information was taken from 22 billion ship safety signals sent to satellites orbiting the Earth. Before this, scientists had to use shipping records and observations, which were not always correct.

最新的捕撈信息采自于發(fā)給地球環(huán)繞衛(wèi)星的220億條船舶安全信號。在此之前，科學家們不得不利用航運記錄和觀察結果，這些并不完全準確。

Ships are obeying no-fishing areas and times, although they do sail along the edges of marine-protected areas. The study noted a drop in fishing around holidays, including Christmas, New Year's and the Lunar New Year.

船舶都遵守禁止捕撈區(qū)域和時間的規(guī)定，盡管它們都沿著海洋保護區(qū)的邊緣航行。該研究指出了假期期間捕撈量有所下降，這些假期包括圣誕節(jié)、元旦以及春節(jié)。

"The maps of global fishing in this report are sobering," said Douglas McCauley, a marine biologist who wasn't part of the study. He works at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

并未參與這項研究的海洋生物學家道格拉斯·麥考利(Douglas McCauley)表示，“這項報告中的全球捕撈地圖發(fā)人深省。”他就職于加州大學圣巴巴拉分校。

The top country for fishing is China. Of the 40 million hours that large ships fished in 2016, 17 million hours were by boats sailing under a Chinese flag, noted marine biologist Barbara Block. She is with Stanford University in California.

最大的捕撈國是中國。海洋生物學家芭芭拉·布洛克(Barbara Block)指出，在2016年大型漁船4千萬小時的捕撈時間里，有1700萬小時來自于懸掛中國國旗的船只。布洛克就職于加州的斯坦福大學。

"No longer is the ocean, especially the high seas – out of sight, out of mind," noted Jane Lubchenco in an email. She formerly led America's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

簡·盧布琴科(Jane Lubchenco)在一封電子郵件中指出，“不僅是海洋，尤其是公海。眼不見心不煩啊。”她曾經領導過美國國家海洋和大氣管理局。

Lubchenco was not part of the study.

盧布琴科也沒有參與這項研究。

From 2012 to 2016, the researchers collected signals from boats. New laws require many ships to carry identification systems that every few seconds report their position to satellites as a safety measure.

研究人員收集了從2012年到2016年的船舶信號。新的法律要求大量船舶攜帶識別系統(tǒng)，每隔幾秒向衛(wèi)星報告其位置來作為一項安全措施。

Scientists then used computer programs to show where the boats were fishing, how they were moving, and what they were likely fishing for and how the fish were caught.

然后科學家們利用電腦程序顯示出這些船舶在哪里捕魚，如何移動，他們可能在捕撈什么魚類，以及他們的捕撈方式。

The information was then compared with log books from some ships and they were the same, Worm said. It also shows that in the high seas, there is a heavy use of long line fishing, which catches more of the top predators like tuna, sharks and whales.

沃姆表示，然后他們將這些信息同一些船舶的航行日志相比較，它們是一致的。它還表明，在公海上大量采用了延繩釣，這樣捕撈的大多是金槍魚、鯊魚和鯨魚等頂級肉食動物。

Researchers said the findings could be used to better protect the oceans and keep fisheries alive.

研究人員表示，這些研究結果可用于更好地保護海洋并保持漁業(yè)活力。

Block said that for too long scientists failed to recognize that human activities have the biggest effect on the planet. He added we have to develop a better system or else we'll end up with a planet without Bluefin tuna and some sharks.

布洛克表示，科學家們長期沒有意識到人類活動對地球產生的影響最大。他補充說，我們必須開發(fā)出一個更好的系統(tǒng)，否則地球上的藍鰭金槍魚和一些鯊魚最終會消失。

I'm Susan Shand.

我是蘇珊·珊德。