VOA慢速英语2012 Agriculture Report - How Overfishing Threatens Asia's Wild Fish Stocks

Agriculture Report - How Overfishing Threatens Asia's Wild Fish Stocks

农业报道 - 过度捕捞威胁亚洲鱼类资源

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

这里是美国之音慢速英语农业报道。

The pressure to feed Asia's growing population has led to dangerous levels of overfishing near Pacific coastlines.

养活亚洲不断增长的人口的压力导致太平洋海岸沿线过度捕捞到达危险水平。

An example can be found in Sindangan, a fishing town in the southern Philippines. Wild catches are falling while prices are rising.

菲律宾南部小渔村Sindangan就是一个例子。野生渔获量不断下降而价格不断上涨。

This fisherman says the area's once healthy fish stocks are in danger because of an increase in the number of fishing boats.

这名渔民表示，由于渔船数量的增加，该地区曾经健康的鱼类资源处于危险之中。

Across the South China Sea, fish catches near shore have dropped since the nineteen eighties. That drop has pushed fishermen to go offshore 1 with bigger boats.

自上世纪80年代以来，整个中国南海的近岸渔获量有所下降。这种下降推动了渔民使用更大的船只到海面去捕鱼。

Benjamin Francisco is an official with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. He says some of the methods they use to increase their catches are destructive.

本杰明·弗朗西斯科（Benjamin Francisco）是联合国粮农组织官员。他说，渔民用来增加渔获的一些方法是破坏性的。

"The use of fine mesh 2 net, the use of dynamite 3 explosives for fishing, and other fishing gear, that catches juveniles 4 or those that harvest maturing spawning 5 stocks."

“他们使用细孔渔网，使用炸药炸鱼，还有捕捉幼鱼或成熟产卵群体的其它渔具。”

Fishing methods like these harm the ability of some species to reproduce. The fish warden 6 in Sindangan, Julie Buot, says most of the local fishermen use fine mesh nets. Such nets have been banned for years because they catch very young fish.

这类捕鱼法伤害了一些物种的繁殖能力。Sindangan的鱼类督导员Julie Buot表示，多数本地渔民使用细孔渔网。这种网因为捕捉小鱼苗，已被禁用多年。

To deal with problems like this, Benjamin Francisco has been promoting the idea of licensing 7 systems. The aim is to limit the number of boats on the water.

要处理这类问题，弗朗西斯科一直在推行许可制度的想法，目的是限制水面上船只的数量。

Asia has the world's largest fishing fleets. They represent nearly three million of the world's four million fishing vessels 8. And most estimates show that the numbers are increasing.

亚洲拥有全球最大的捕鱼船队，在全球400万渔船中占到了近300万。大多数的估计显示，这一数量正在增加。

In Hong Kong, there are increased efforts to regulate fleets and to ban trawling for fish near shore. More than two hundred million dollars is being spent in an effort to increase catches by small fishing operations. So Ping-man of the Hong Kong Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department is hopeful about the efforts. He expects catch values to increase.

香港加大了监管船队和禁止近案拖网捕鱼的力度。超过2亿美元投入到增加小型渔业作业渔获量的努力中。香港农业渔业自然资源保护署的So Ping-man非常看好这些努力。他预计捕捞值会上升。

But Hong Kong's measures are costly 9. Benjamin Francisco says a lot of governments in Asia are not in a position to copy them. 

但香港所采取的措施代价不菲。弗朗西斯科表示，亚洲很多政府不会复制香港的办法。

"The issues are deeply rooted in poverty, the inability of local government to respond immediately, insufficiency of funds."

“这一问题深深植根于贫困，资金不足使得当地政府无法立即作出反应。”

In Sindangan, Wilfredo Ortega feeds a family of nine children from small-scale fishing. On a recent day, he caught only half a dollar's worth of fish. He had to return to shore early because of monsoon 10 winds.

Sindangan的维尔弗雷多·奥尔特加（Wilfredo Ortega）通过小规模捕鱼养活了九个孩子的家庭。最近他只能捕到价值半美元的鱼。因为季风，他不得不提前回到岸边。

"In these months, it's quite tight," he says, talking about the difficulty of saving money. "We can only save during the months of November, December, January. We can save by catching 11 young sardines 12."

“这几个月要存钱相当难，”他说着存钱的难度。“我们只能在11月，12月和1月通过捕捉小沙丁鱼存点钱。”

The young sardines may feed Mr. Ortega's family for now. But the catches today mean fewer mature fish tomorrow. And they mean an even riskier 13 future for those who depend on fishing when no other work is available.

小沙丁鱼现在可以养活奥尔特加一家。但今天的捕捞意味着未来更少的成熟鱼类。对依靠捕鱼生活的人来说，在没有其它工作可做时，还意味着一个高风险的未来。

And that's the Agriculture Report in Special English. I'm Christopher Cruise.