【翻譯練習】海底被刮平
Scraping the Seafloor Smooth
日期：October 22, 2012
作者：SINDYA N. BHANOO
來源：http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/23/opinion/industrialized-fishing-scrapes-the-seafloor-smooth.html?ref=opinion
It is hard to grasp just how industrialized commercial fishing has become. You may know about the problems inherent in fish farming. You may have read some of the stunning accounts of work aboard the factory ships that catch, process and freeze fish. But there is no better way to grasp the scale of industrial fishing than to consider the impact of bottom trawling.
難以想像，商業營利捕魚行為，已至如何工業技術化的程度。你可能頗知漁場養殖所帶來的問題，也略懂令人瞠目結舌的加工船，捕捉、加工、冷凍一體化。但實在無從了解工業化捕魚規模之大，及其底拖網作業的影響。
According to a new study published in Nature, trawlers are doing more than catching fish. Because they drag huge, heavy nets across the ocean floor, they are reshaping the bottom contours of the busiest fishing grounds. It is the equivalent of plowing a cornfield, with this difference: a farmer plows his own field once a year, but trawlers cover “the same grounds year round on a daily basis.” By disturbing sediment, they are, in essence, smoothing out the sea bottom and reducing its value as habitat. This is occurring, the authors say, not just on relatively shallow continental shelves, but on continental slopes as well.
根據發表於《自然》期刊的最新研究，與單純撒網捕魚相比，拖網船對海洋生態造成的傷害更鉅。在熱門漁場，拖網船放任巨大沉重的漁網逡巡海底，改變該處海底的樣貌形態。拖網作用類似犁耕玉米田，而不同之處在於，農夫一年犁一次田，但拖網船｢一年當中，日復一日地在同一處拖網捕撈｣。拖網作業翻攪海底沉積物，實際上是刮平海底，令海底不符合作為生物棲地的條件。作者表示，無論是相對淺緩的大陸棚，或者較具斜度的大陸坡，皆難逃拖網船蹂躪。
Heavy trawling takes place all around the world, including off the coasts of the United States. In the scientists’ study area — the Mediterranean Sea near Spain — bathymetric mapping shows the smoothing caused by the steady sifting of sediment, and underwater photographs clearly depict trawler drag marks. In fact, trawlers are shifting as much sediment as naturally occurring underwater landslides. Trawlers working on continental slopes alone cover about half the area of the United States. Globally, trawlers working on all continental shelves and seamounts cover about five times that area.
全世界各處，包括美國，拖網船皆活動頻繁。此次科學家研究範圍位於西班牙週邊的地中海區域，海洋測量圖中，顯示拖網船時常擾動海底沉積物，造成海底刮平。海底攝像明顯可見拖網船拖痕。事實上，拖網船拖曳時所搬移的沉積物數量，和海底崩移所造成的沉積物移動總量，兩者相差無幾。於大陸坡作業的拖網船，作業範圍涵蓋約半個美國之大。而於全球各個大陸棚及海底山作業的拖網船，作業範圍更是前述五倍。
These estimates are conservative. As the authors note, the regulations governing deep-sea bottom trawling are very weak, and there is a great deal of illegal and underreported fishing going on. Marine life flourishes in complexity, which bottom trawling destroys. It will take strong international regulation, a reduction in European fishing subsidies and heightened consumer awareness in order to limit, if not halt, this disastrous scraping of the seafloor.
這些還只算是保守估計。作者指出，深海拖網作業的法規鬆散，使得違法及不為人知的捕魚情形，甚為猖獗。海洋因多樣化而能展現豐富樣貌，但底拖網作業，卻毀了美好海洋生態。國際法規需要嚴格執行，歐洲應減少漁業補助，且消費者對於自然的保護意識能夠抬頭。就算不能完全停止拖網船肆虐，也要盡力限制其摧殘。
日期：October 22, 2012
作者：SINDYA N. BHANOO
來源：http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/23/opinion/industrialized-fishing-scrapes-the-seafloor-smooth.html?ref=opinion
It is hard to grasp just how industrialized commercial fishing has become. You may know about the problems inherent in fish farming. You may have read some of the stunning accounts of work aboard the factory ships that catch, process and freeze fish. But there is no better way to grasp the scale of industrial fishing than to consider the impact of bottom trawling.
難以想像，商業營利捕魚行為，已至如何工業技術化的程度。你可能頗知漁場養殖所帶來的問題，也略懂令人瞠目結舌的加工船，捕捉、加工、冷凍一體化。但實在無從了解工業化捕魚規模之大，及其底拖網作業的影響。
According to a new study published in Nature, trawlers are doing more than catching fish. Because they drag huge, heavy nets across the ocean floor, they are reshaping the bottom contours of the busiest fishing grounds. It is the equivalent of plowing a cornfield, with this difference: a farmer plows his own field once a year, but trawlers cover “the same grounds year round on a daily basis.” By disturbing sediment, they are, in essence, smoothing out the sea bottom and reducing its value as habitat. This is occurring, the authors say, not just on relatively shallow continental shelves, but on continental slopes as well.
根據發表於《自然》期刊的最新研究，與單純撒網捕魚相比，拖網船對海洋生態造成的傷害更鉅。在熱門漁場，拖網船放任巨大沉重的漁網逡巡海底，改變該處海底的樣貌形態。拖網作用類似犁耕玉米田，而不同之處在於，農夫一年犁一次田，但拖網船｢一年當中，日復一日地在同一處拖網捕撈｣。拖網作業翻攪海底沉積物，實際上是刮平海底，令海底不符合作為生物棲地的條件。作者表示，無論是相對淺緩的大陸棚，或者較具斜度的大陸坡，皆難逃拖網船蹂躪。
Heavy trawling takes place all around the world, including off the coasts of the United States. In the scientists’ study area — the Mediterranean Sea near Spain — bathymetric mapping shows the smoothing caused by the steady sifting of sediment, and underwater photographs clearly depict trawler drag marks. In fact, trawlers are shifting as much sediment as naturally occurring underwater landslides. Trawlers working on continental slopes alone cover about half the area of the United States. Globally, trawlers working on all continental shelves and seamounts cover about five times that area.
全世界各處，包括美國，拖網船皆活動頻繁。此次科學家研究範圍位於西班牙週邊的地中海區域，海洋測量圖中，顯示拖網船時常擾動海底沉積物，造成海底刮平。海底攝像明顯可見拖網船拖痕。事實上，拖網船拖曳時所搬移的沉積物數量，和海底崩移所造成的沉積物移動總量，兩者相差無幾。於大陸坡作業的拖網船，作業範圍涵蓋約半個美國之大。而於全球各個大陸棚及海底山作業的拖網船，作業範圍更是前述五倍。
These estimates are conservative. As the authors note, the regulations governing deep-sea bottom trawling are very weak, and there is a great deal of illegal and underreported fishing going on. Marine life flourishes in complexity, which bottom trawling destroys. It will take strong international regulation, a reduction in European fishing subsidies and heightened consumer awareness in order to limit, if not halt, this disastrous scraping of the seafloor.
這些還只算是保守估計。作者指出，深海拖網作業的法規鬆散，使得違法及不為人知的捕魚情形，甚為猖獗。海洋因多樣化而能展現豐富樣貌，但底拖網作業，卻毀了美好海洋生態。國際法規需要嚴格執行，歐洲應減少漁業補助，且消費者對於自然的保護意識能夠抬頭。就算不能完全停止拖網船肆虐，也要盡力限制其摧殘。