Narrator: Listen to part of a lecture in an environmental conservation class.

旁白:下面听一段有关环境保护的讲座片段。

Professor: Next I want to talk about the collapse of the North American Cod population.

教授：接下来我想谈谈有关北美鳕鱼数量暴跌的事。

Let's look at Cape Cod in the Northeastern United States.

我们来看下美国东北部的科德角（鳕鱼角）。

The area was named Cape Cod because there was so many Cod fish in the waters just off its shores, so many that the first Europeans who fished there in the 17th century reported it was better than in Newfoundland, Canada.

这个地方被叫做鳕鱼角是因为这有非常多的鳕鱼就在海岸边，数量之多以至于17世纪来这捕鱼的第一批欧洲人报道说这比加拿大的Newfoundland的鳕鱼还要多。

At that time, Newfoundland's Cod fishery was so rich that people said it was possible just to lower a bucket in the water, pull it out and it would be full of cod, but Cape Cod was even better, so the fishing industry there did great until after the 1940s.

那时候Newfoundland的渔业是非常繁荣的，甚至人们说你只要将桶在水里浅浅一舀再拉上来就有满满一桶鱼，但鳕鱼角的鱼比之更甚，所以在1940s之前那的渔业是相当繁荣的。

Uh, there were simply too many fishing vessels, sophisticated vessels, competing for fewer and fewer fish.

所以鳕鱼角上就有非常多的捕鱼船，都是经验老道的船，争相捕捞越来越少的鳕鱼。

In the 1940s there were still about four hundred million pounds of fish caught at Cape Cod every year.

在1940s，鳕鱼角每年仍有四亿磅鳕鱼产量。

Just 50 years later though, by the 1990s, commercial cod fishing there had become unprofitable.

仅仅50年后，到了1990，商业化鳕鱼捕捞已没有油水。

The annual catch had gone down about 5% of its 1940s' level.

每年捕鱼量降到1940s的5%。

And here's what's so fascinating: as more and more fishing vessels with better and better fishing technology were competing for cod, this competition was causing changes to the biology of the fish and these changes were making it more and more difficult for the cod population to sustain itself.

而这件事最特别的地方在于，由于越来越多的捕鱼船搭载越来越先进的捕鱼技术来争相捕鱼，使得鳕鱼的生理特征发生了变化，而这种变化更加不利于鳕鱼数量的自身维持。

Student: Changes to the biology of the fish?

学生：鳕鱼的生理特征发生了什么变化？

Professor: Well, if a cod fish could reproduce earlier than usual, it'd have a better chance of passing on its genes to the next generation before being caught, right?

教授：额，如果鳕鱼比平常早繁殖，那么它就会在捕捞前更有机会把基因传给下一代对吗？

And sure enough, biologists noticed that around Cape Cod, the cod were beginning to mature at an earlier age than normal.

果不其然，生物学家发现在鳕鱼角的鳕鱼，他们会比正常的鳕鱼更早进入成熟阶段。

Prior to the population collapse, cod usually took about 8 to 10 years to fully mature, to start to reproduce, and they lived around 40 years total.

在数量减少前，鳕鱼通常经过8到10年才完全成熟，开始繁殖交配，生命周期大概40年。

So cod had about 30 years of active reproductive life.

所以他们有30年的交配期。

But now, cod were beginning to reproduce at a younger age, at 3 to 4 years old, and they were living shorter lives because they were being caught, so they had fewer years within which to reproduce.

但是现在鳕鱼开始在很早的年龄，差不多3-4岁就开始交配，他们生命周期也变短因为大量的捕捞，所以他们繁殖期就更短。

Additionally, even though some fish in the population were maturing at an earlier age, none was actually growing faster.

另外，尽管一些鱼在很年轻的时候就成熟了，但他们都没有真正的在加速生长（个头没有变大）。

No cod has a way of speeding up its rate of growth.

没有一只鱼懂得如何加快生长。

So the younger reproductive age actually meant that smaller fish were reproducing.

所以繁殖年轻化就是指小鱼们在繁殖。

And when you're a small cod reproducing, you produce fewer eggs than a large cod.

所以当小鱼在繁殖，他们比大鱼产的卵要少。

The smaller cods simply don't have the body mass to reproduce as many eggs.

一些更小的鱼甚至没有足够大的身体去容纳足够多的卵。

The overfishing pressure on the cod population was pushing the cod into an evolutionary corner.

过度捕捞把鳕鱼逼到了进化的边缘。

They were having a harder and harder time surviving.

他们的生存越来越艰难。

Student: But what can be done to prevent other scenarios like this?

学生：但是可以做些什么去防止像这样的悲剧再发生呢？

I mean obviously we need a better way to manage environmental resources.

我认为很明显，我们需要一个更好的方法去管理环境资源。

Professor: Well, what do you guys suggest? Carol?

教授：你们有什么建议？ Carol？

Student: Hmm, uh, maybe privatize the resource?

学生：额，或许私有化资源？

A private owner would want to manage the resource efficiently in a sustainable way.

私人所有者希望以可持续的方式有效地管理资源。

Professor: Ok, but the problem is privatization doesn't necessarily result in better management of an environmental resource.

教授：OK，但是问题是私有化并不能必然导致更好的环境管理。

Any ideas why it wouldn't?

为什么它不会？

Student: Well, an individual owner might not properly assess the limits of the resource.

学生：私人雇主可能不会正确评估资源的局限性。

So they could be just as prone to overexploiting that resource as a group where lots of people have access to it.

所以他们很可能作为一个群体去吸纳很多人去过度开发这片资源。

Professor: Yes. Well, like in the 1970s, when it was already clear the North American cod population was declining dramatically, the US and Canada declared a 200-mile exclusive economic zone in the waters around Cape Cod.

教授:是的，就像1970s，那时候北美鳕鱼数量已经明显下降，美国和加拿大声明在鳕鱼角周边规划一个200英里的独立经济区。

By declaring an exclusive economic zone, you see, these two countries were trying to extend their territorial waters.

通过宣布独家拥有这片经济区域，这两个国家其实是在扩大他们的水域领土。

Basically it was as if they were saying: “we're the private owners.

基本就像是在说，“我们是这得私人拥有者，

We own these waters.

我们拥有这片水域。

So we own the rights to the fish in them too.“

所以我们有权利在这捕鱼。”

Essentially the two countries told fishing vessels, trollers from all other nations, to get out of the cod fishing area.

重要的是这两个国家告诉其他国家的捕鱼船，钓鱼船禁止驶入这边区域。

You'd think that would be good news for the cod because there'd be less fishing.

你或许认为那对于鳕鱼是件好事，因为渔船数量下降。

However, The US and Canada wanted to expel foreign trollers only in order to increase the number of their own fishing fleets.

但是美国和加拿大驱逐其他国家的捕鱼船的目的只是让更多自己的渔船进来。

The total number of fishing trollers actually increased.

整个捕鱼船的数量实际是在上升的。

Another possible solution, pass laws that regulate use of the resource.

另一个可能解决方案是，通过法律来管理资源利用。

But for regulation to be effective, penalties for breaking the law have to be large enough to deter violators.

但是要能让管理有效，对于触犯法律的刑罚要能震慑住违法者。