地中海黑鮪被捕至近絕種 - 生態環境討論

http://www.wretch.cc/blog/Mares&article_id=6779324

A Prized and Tasty Tuna Disappears From a Sea
- by Elisabeth Rosenthal, International Herald Tribune -
[New York Times article]

SUCURAJ, Croatia -Two decades ago, the channels that seperate the Adriatic
Islands here were brimming with giant bluefin tuna, a species so plentiful
that tourists used to climb ladders by the sea to watch the shcools swim by.

Sucuraj，克羅埃西亞 - 二十年前，大群的藍鰭鮪魚(台灣稱為黑鮪)曾經穿梭漫遊在
分隔亞德里亞群島的眾多水道裡，他們的數量龐大，連遊經此地的遊客都會在海邊登
上梯子，遠眺這些優雅的海中巨人壯觀的遷徙景象。

Today, these majestic predators are rarely if ever caught. " You have to work a
lot harder to catch fish of any kind, " said Lubomir Petricivic, a fisherman who
recently opened a restaurant in the harbor here. " Tuna? Impossible. We don't
have any; we can't get it. "

到了今天，這種讓人歎為觀止的掠食者卻幾乎要從海中消失。 " 你要比從前努力
數倍，才有可能抓到魚，" Lubomir Petricivic，一個剛在港邊開了家餐廳的漁夫
說道。 " 鮪魚？怎麼可能。現在我們連一隻都沒有了；因為已經抓不到了。"

The tuna population in the Mediterranean is nearing extinction, a new World
Wildlife Fund report concludes, with catches down 80 percent over the past
few years, even for high-tech trawlers that now comb remote corners of the sea
in search of the hard-to-find fish.

最近一項由世界野生動物基金會(WWF)所做的報告指出，過去幾年來地中海的黑鮪
捕獲下降了80%，顯示此區域的鮪魚族群已瀕臨絕種。即使是由配備高科技漁具的
商業拖網漁船，地毯式地搜索船隊較少到達的遠洋區域，也是寥無所獲。

"This is past the alarm stage, " said Simon Cripps, director of the global marine
program at the World Wildlife Fund, who compares the situation to strip mining.
" We are seeing a complete collapse of the tuna population, It could disappear
and never come back. "

" 現在的情況早已超過了警戒階段，我們正在目睹黑鮪族群的整體崩潰，他們很有
可能就此消失，不再回來。" 世界野生動物基金會的全球海洋計畫主管 Simon
Cripps 說道。

Many edible fish stocks in the Mediterranean and its extension, the Adriatic,
have sharply declined in the past decade because of pollution and intensive
fishing, including crayfish and John Dory, according to the United Nations Food
and Agriculture Organization.

根據聯合國食物及農業組織(FAO)的資料指出，地中海和其延伸出來的亞德里亞海在
過去十年內，因為污染和過度漁撈，包括龍蝦和John Dory (一種被認為是美食的深
海魚)，許多食用魚類的族群數量急遽下降。

But it is the bluefin tuna that is in crisis, thanks to a new and lucrative
European network of fishing and fish farming companies that provide the prized
fish to sushi and sashimi markets in Japan.

但其中還是屬黑鮪的情況最為危急，而這都要"歸功"於一個新成立的歐洲漁撈及養殖
漁業企業網路，他們將這些價值不匪的魚類大量輸出到日本的生魚片和壽司店，
便可從中獲得豐厚利潤。

With tuna prices going as high as $15 a pound in Tokyo, European trawlers
fish for tuna aggressively and illegally, far exceeding international quotas
meant to protect the species, scientists said. Compounding the problem is
the recent development of tuna fattening farms in Croatia, Spain, Turkey
and other Mediterranean countries.

在日本東京，一磅(約453公克)的黑鮪魚肉可賣到15塊美金；科學家們表示，
受此巨大利潤誘使，歐洲的非法鮪魚拖網船隊無所不用其極也要將黑鮪群一網打盡，
即便其捕獲量早已遠遠超過國際配額限制。更嚴重的是，最近在克羅埃西亞，
西班牙，土耳其和其他地中海國家新興的鮪魚養殖農場，讓地中海黑鮪的處境更為
窘迫。

(這裡我想有必要補充一下: 這些海洋農場，原文稱鮪魚"養肥"農場，因為他們是將捕
獲的鮪魚中還未成熟的小鮪魚丟到一個巨大的圍籠裡面養殖，以飼料餵食直到體型成
長至足以滿足黑鮪市場的需求，再釣上來加以冷凍空運，跟一般人所認知的"農場"概念
並不一樣；因為這些鮪魚仍是從海洋裡捕獲而不是以人工方式繁殖，所以會對海洋的
野生族群造成直接的衝擊，這樣的養殖農場只會讓人們出海捕更多的魚，而不會如一
般認為的可以減輕過漁的壓力。)

Now, even small juvenile tuna can be brought to the vast underwater cages
that line the Croatian coast, where they are fed for months or years until they
are ready for market.

現在，即使是未成熟的年幼黑鮪，也會被帶到圍繞著克羅埃西亞沿海的巨大圍籠裡，
加以餵養數月到數年，直到他們體型成長到足以進入鮪魚市場。

And so, though few tuna are in Croatia's seas and none are in its restaurants,
tuna is one of this country's most lucrative food exports. One hundred
percent of Croatia's tuna is farm-fattened, ending up as toro - precious,
fatty raw tuna.

在克羅埃西亞的海裡和餐桌上我們可能很難看到鮪魚，因為黑鮪已然成為這個國家
利潤最豐厚的出口貨品之一。現在，克羅埃西亞的每一條黑鮪都是海洋農場養大的，
最終就成了日本人口中的 toro - 一道道肥美多脂的珍貴生鮮。



In the Mediterranean, high-tech tuna boats from countries like France,
Italy and Spain use sonar and airplane spotters to find schools in the remaining
tuna grounds, off Cyprus, Egypt and Libya.

來自法國，義大利和西班牙的地中海高科技鮪撈船隊，在賽普勒斯，埃及
和利比亞的外海，使用聲納和空中探測機搜尋獵捕最後可能剩下的鮪魚群。

But Croatia, with its vast pristine coastline, turns out to be a perfect
place for fattening farms. Started less than a decade ago, they now
employ hundreds of Croatians, 95 percent of them former fishermen.

但擁有綿亙原始海岸線的克羅埃西亞，則轉而發展鮪魚農場；這個產業在不到
十年前才開始興起，但現在已雇用了數百個克羅埃西亞人，而他們有95%在漁
業崩潰前曾經是漁夫。

A ship owned by the environmental group Greenpeace spent a week
recently trailing French, Italian and Spanish tuna boats in the far
reaches of the Mediterranean with plans to confront a trawler engaged
in illegal fishing; the crew's hopes were stymied because it discovered
that the trawlers had been unable to find a single tuna to catch.

一艘由環保組織綠色和平(Greenpeace)所擁有的船，最近花了一個星期跟蹤法國，
義大利和西班牙的鮪撈船隊，遠達地中海的遠洋區域，希望能夠抓到他們違法捕撈
黑鮪的證據；但他們的希望落空了，因為這些船隊連一隻鮪魚都找不到。

" We went out trying to find trouble and what we found was a fishery on the
brink of collapse, " said Karli Thomas, who was on the boat. " This industry
has a limited shelf life. "

" 我們原本是想要找這些鮪撈船隊的麻煩，沒想到，我們找到的是一個瀕臨崩潰
的漁業 "一個綠色和平的成員 Karli Thomas 說道，" 這個產業剩下的時日不多了。"

Dr. Nedo Vrgoc of the Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries in Split,
Croatia, said that "significant negative changes" have occurred in the fish
stocks of the Adriatic because of overfishing, with a particularly steep
reduction in long-lived fish species like rays, John Dory and anglerfish.

來自克羅埃西亞海洋和漁業研究所的 Nedo Vrgoc 博士表示，由於過去不加節制
的過漁，亞德里亞海的漁獲族群呈現非常嚴重的負成長，尤其是幾種生命週期較長
的種類，像是魟魚，John Dory，以及安康魚。

Because of intense regulation of coastal waters and Croatia's poorly equipped
fleet, the situation is relatively better near Croatia than in the open Adriatic
or the full Mediterranean, Dr. Vrgoc said.

Vrgoc 博士也補充，由於克羅埃西亞沿海較嚴厲的規範以及克國本身配備不足
的船隊，相對上來看克羅埃西亞的沿海狀況會比亞德里亞海大洋和整個地中海
好一些。

" The open Adriatic is exposed to exploitation of the better equipped and
several times more numerous Italian fishing fleet, " he said, and " there is
almost no regulation. "

" 亞德里亞海的大洋區域，被不論是配備的精良度還是船隻數目都多上數倍的義大
利船隊所充斥，" 他最後說道，" 而這些船隊的行動幾乎沒有任何規範。"


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