《中英對照讀新聞》Unusual warming kills Gulf of Maine cod 不尋常的暖化殺死緬因州海灣的鱈魚

◎李信漢

Unusual warming in the waters off the northeastern US has killed off vast numbers of Atlantic cod, further endangering a valuable and iconic fishery despite years of fishing restrictions, researchers said Thursday.

美國東北角岸邊海面不尋常的海水暖化，已造成大量大西洋鱈魚死亡，進一步危害這個有價值且具指標意義的漁場，儘管限捕措施已實施多年，研究人員週四指出。

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New England cod stocks are on the verge of collapse. The problem has been fueled by overfishing, and exacerbated by a stark warming trend in the Gulf of Maine that is unparalleled on Earth, researchers said in the journal Science.

新英格蘭地區的鱈魚數量已到崩盤邊緣，這個問題已因過度捕撈而變得嚴重，並在緬因灣舉世無雙的明顯暖化趨勢下益加惡化，研究人員在《科學》期刊上說。

From 2004 to 2013, the rate of warming in that area was almost a quarter degree Celsius.

從2004年到2013年，這個區域的暖化速率幾乎達到攝氏0.25度。

"The Gulf of Maine had warmed faster than 99.9 percent of the global ocean over that period," said lead author Andrew Pershing, chief scientific officer of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, who studied records back through the 1900s for comparison.

「在這段期間，緬因灣暖化的速度比全球99.9％的海洋還快。」第一作者安德魯．波希說，他是緬因灣研究所的科學長，他回溯1990年代的紀錄進行比較研究。

The reasons for the spike include global warming and a shift in the Gulf Stream.

海灣水溫突然上升的原因，包括全球暖化和灣區潮流改變。

For fish, these warmer temperatures led to fewer offspring.

對魚群來說，溫度上升導致生育減少。

Even a series of restrictions on cod fishing put in place to try to save the population was too slow to keep up with the fast-rising temperatures. （AFP）

儘管已採取一系列限捕鱈魚措施，試圖搶救鱈魚數量，但為時已晚，無法趕上灣區水溫快速上升的幅度。（法新社）

新聞辭典

stark：形容詞，明顯的，突出的。例句：There is a stark difference between them.（他們之間有明顯差異。）

overfishing：名詞，過度捕撈。例句：Several species were nearly wiped out by overfishing.（因為過度捕撈，許多魚種已接近滅絕。）

spike：名詞，突然增加。例句：There’s been a spike in traffic since the new grocery store opened.（在這家新的雜貨店開張後，交通流量突然大增。）