VOA慢速英语:How Overfishing Threatens Asia's Wild Fish Stocks

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了太平洋海岸线附近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.
菲律宾南部的一个渔村Sindangan就是一个活生生的例子。野生渔捕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.
该渔民称，因为渔船的数量不断增加，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 with bigger boats.
自19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.
Benjamin Francisco是一名联合国粮食和农业组织的官员。他说，他们使用的增加渔获的一些方法是破坏性的。

"The use of fine mesh net, the use of dynamite explosives for fishing, and other fishing gear, that catches juveniles or those that harvest maturing spawning stocks."
“他们使用细孔渔网，使用炸药炸鱼，以及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 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.
这些捕鱼法伤害了某些物种的繁殖能力。Sindangan的鱼类督导员Julie Buot称，大多数本地渔民使用细孔渔网。因为这种网会捕捉幼小的鱼儿，已被禁用多年。

To deal with problems like this, Benjamin Francisco has been promoting the idea of licensing systems. The aim is to limit the number of boats on the water.
要处理这样的问题，Benjamin Francisco一直在推行发牌制度的想法，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. And most estimates show that the numbers are increasing.
亚洲拥有世界上最大的捕鱼船队，在全球400万渔船中占到了近300万。大多数人估计这一数量正在增加。

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.
在香港，政府加大了监管船队和禁止近岸拖网捕鱼的力度。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认为这些努力充满希望。他预计捕捞值会增加。

But Hong Kong's measures are costly. 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的成本是昂贵的。Benjamin Francisco称，亚洲很多政府不会复制香港的做法。

"The issues are deeply rooted in poverty, the inability of local government to respond immediately, insufficiency of funds."
“该问题深深植根于贫困，资金不足让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 winds.
在Sindangan的Wilfredo Ortega通过小规模捕鱼养活了家里的九个孩子。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上。

 "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 young sardines."
“在这几个月相当紧张，”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 future for those who depend on fishing when no other work is available.
现在，小沙丁鱼可以养活奥尔特加一家。但是，今天的捕获意味着未来更少的成熟鱼类。对于那些依靠捕鱼为生的人且没有其他工作的人来说，还意味着一个高风险的未来。