美国国家公共电台 NPR The Gulf Of Maine Is Warming, And Its Whales Are Disappearing

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

A new U.N. report says the Earth's oceans are heating up quickly, causing, in some cases, ocean heat waves for the first time. One place where that's happening - the Gulf¹ of Maine. So that's where we begin our story.

It's a glorious September morning in Bar Harbor, Maine. The sky is a cloudless blue. In fact, it is a perfect day for one of this place's signature draws - whale watching. I'm standing² underneath³ a pagoda⁴ with a huge wooden carved humpback whale on it where people are lined up to get onto boats heading out into the Gulf of Maine.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: You guys are here for the whale watch, right?

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Oh, yeah. You guys excited?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Oh, yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Oh, yeah.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: The very first people in line are Kurt Demann from North Carolina and his adult daughter Caryn Loften, who lives in Louisiana.

KURT DEMANN: Last year, I was in Depoe Bay, Ore., and this whale breached⁵ right in front of us. And I never got a chance to thank that whale for doing that, so I'm now up here looking for him so I can...

(LAUGHTER)

DEMANN: ...I can thank him for doing that. That was pretty nice.

CARYN LOFTEN: I just wanted to be able to see - it's something I've never seen before, and hopefully we'll see one today.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: But they may just be out of luck. The odds⁶ of seeing whales in the Gulf of Maine have dropped significantly as its waters have warmed. This story is part of a series about how East Coast communities have been adapting to climate change. And in Maine, the people that live on - and the animals that live in - the Gulf are in the midst of that adaptation, grappling with accelerating shifts in their environment.

About 90 minutes up the coast, Jim Parker runs a small whale watch boat, the Susan Jane, named after his wife.

JIM PARKER: Thirty-three-foot, typical Downeast lobster⁷ boat. There's a V back to about where the wheel is...

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Parker has been on these waters since he was a child. He's now in his 70s, and he's got a white beard and the gait of a man who spends a lot of time on a rocking boat. Finding whales used to be easy in the summer. They would cluster at certain spots, providing a reliable display for enchanted⁸ tourists. He shows us his logbooks from the last 15 years.

PARKER: OK. See. Going out the 29, I went out for whales. I had two humpbacks. Like on August 8, hit thick fog - we found one minke that day in the thick fog.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: But this year's been very different. The whales aren't showing.

PARKER: That one right there, I had no whales.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Parker says his business is down 20% this year, and he's shifted to doing nature tours to make ends meet, looking for wildlife like puffins instead of whales.

PARKER: What I don't want to do is put a half a dozen people on the boat, have them all excited about going out and see whales when I know there's not one there. I want them to have a good time.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: He's been talking with his partner about shifting his business away from whale watching, but he's not necessarily on board with the U.N.'s warning about a warming climate.

PARKER: If you look back in history, you can't find a 10-year period in history we didn't have climate change of some form.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So you don't believe when scientists say this is warming and the climate is changing, and this might be a permanent thing that happens?

PARKER: I agree a hundred percent the climate is changing, OK? I'm not convinced that it's warming.

ANDREW PERSHING: Really, since about 2010, 2012, the warming signal in our region has just exploded, and that's become a big part of our research.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Andrew Pershing is the chief scientific officer at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland. He would tell Jim Parker that climate change is melting glaciers⁹ in Greenland and sending ice and freshwater out of the Arctic, altering currents flowing into the Gulf of Maine. The result is a disruption of food sources for some species, especially whales.

PERSHING: Humpbacks are one of the ones you're most likely to see if you go out whale watching. They're, you know, very showy. They're coming here to feed. They're coming here to eat things like herring, like sand lance, these sort of small, silvery fish that are right at the middle of the food chain. We also have right whales, which are an endangered species, and they're coming to feed even lower on the food chain.

So as we're - see this food web start to become disrupted and start to change, we're seeing changes in where the whales are feeding, and we're seeing changes in when they're coming to feed.

TOBY STEPHENSON: So we're located here at Mount Desert Island. We're going to be going first south 20, 25 miles. There was a whale sighted yesterday.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Toby Stephenson is the skipper of the Osprey, a research vessel¹⁰ for the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor. He's taking us out with Sean Todd, a foraging¹¹ ecologist studying the diet of the whales in the Gulf. And we have to travel farther to find them now. For people looking for whales - either tourists on the Susan Jane or us on the Osprey - Sean Todd says that's an inconvenience, but...

SEAN TODD: From a whale's perspective, it matters greatly, right? These animals have designed over evolutionary¹² time to have a certain energy budget to get to certain places and do what they need to do. So if you increase the energy expenditure¹³ a whale has to undergo to get to its food, then the animal does not meet its calorific needs. And if it's a female, that can very likely result in a failure of pregnancy¹⁴.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Animals can adapt to climactic changes, says Todd. But humans are changing the environment so quickly, the whales simply can't catch up.

TODD: We're going to see lower reproductive rates across the species. And, you know, that'll bring the population back down to endangered status, perhaps.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: The day's goal on the Osprey is to dart¹⁵ a whale using a crossbow and extract a tiny bit of skin and blubber that can tell Todd what the whale's eating. It's year two of a five-year study which will then be compared to research from 15 years ago. But the hours roll on without a sighting.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: What's that?

STEPHENSON: You didn't see much?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: I haven't seen anything, no.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: Yeah.

STEPHENSON: Yeah. There was something sighted not too far from here yesterday, but not super promising¹⁶.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Sean Todd compares these waters now to a desert.

TODD: There aren't even seabirds, and we often use seabird activity as a proxy¹⁷ for how productive the water is, how much plankton¹⁸ there is around. So now we're going to move on to our next ground...

GARCIA-NAVARRO: He says, in the old days, there might have been a thousand whales in these waters. Now there's about one-tenth of that.

TODD: That's really difficult for me to be out here now and see, you know, a flat ocean with almost no biological activity readily observable but know maybe five, 10 years ago, I could be out here, and we would have our pick of animals to work with.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: The story we're doing is about adaptation, and it strikes me that we're in the midst of something happening here right now where the animals are adapting and the humans are adapting to something that is underway. Is that how it feels to you?

TODD: Absolutely. I guess when you're in the middle of that, you're not quite sure what's going on. So things have been steadily¹⁹ changing, you know? And every year, you readjust your expectations. And so one year, you might go, well, this year wasn't great, but thank goodness it was better than last year. But then you - when you think about it on a longer scale of decades, this area has changed tremendously.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Andrew Pershing of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute says what's happening in these waters is just the beginning, and that could be a good thing.

PERSHING: We have had challenges that other ecosystems²⁰ - places like Norway, Alaska, you know, the Caribbean - that are going to deal with in the future. And it gives us the imperative²¹ to figure out, how do we deal with this rapidly changing ocean? But then we have the potential to say, look; we've learned this here, and here's some ways that other regions might be able to get ahead of the curve in a way that we maybe didn't have that opportunity.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Back on the Osprey, Sean Todd says it's imperative that the people who live and work on these waters also need to adapt politically and act on the very real changes they're experiencing right now.

TODD: It's only in the United States where climate change has become a politically based argument. You know, if you're on the left, you believe one thing. If you're on the right, you believe another thing, which is just, to me, so extraordinary because outside the United States, the question has been solved. It's not a question anymore. We have done this, and it's got to be rectified²². And will we save the Gulf of Maine? I don't know. I don't know if we can or not, but I hope we can save the planet.

(SOUNDBITE OF NIKLAS AMAN'S "SLEEP STATE")

1 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

2 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

3 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

4 pagoda   

n.宝塔（尤指印度和远东的多层宝塔），（印度教或佛教的）塔式庙宇

参考例句：

• The ancient pagoda is undergoing repairs.那座古塔正在修缮中。
• The pagoda is reflected upside down in the water.宝塔影子倒立在水里。

5 breached   

攻破( breach的现在分词 )； 破坏，违反

参考例句：

• These commitments have already been breached. 这些承诺已遭背弃。
• Our tanks have breached the enemy defences. 我方坦克车突破了敌人的防线。

6 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

7 lobster   

n.龙虾，龙虾肉

参考例句：

• The lobster is a shellfish.龙虾是水生贝壳动物。
• I like lobster but it does not like me.我喜欢吃龙虾，但它不适宜于我的健康。

8 enchanted   

adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• She was enchanted by the flowers you sent her. 她非常喜欢你送给她的花。
• He was enchanted by the idea. 他为这个主意而欣喜若狂。

9 glaciers   

冰河，冰川( glacier的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Glaciers gouged out valleys from the hills. 冰川把丘陵地带冲出一条条山谷。
• It has ice and snow glaciers, rainforests and beautiful mountains. 既有冰川，又有雨林和秀丽的山峰。 来自英语晨读30分（高一）

10 vessel   

n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管

参考例句：

• The vessel is fully loaded with cargo for Shanghai.这艘船满载货物驶往上海。
• You should put the water into a vessel.你应该把水装入容器中。

11 foraging   

v.搜寻（食物），尤指动物觅（食）( forage的现在分词 )；（尤指用手）搜寻（东西）

参考例句：

• They eke out a precarious existence foraging in rubbish dumps. 他们靠在垃圾场捡垃圾维持着朝不保夕的生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The campers went foraging for wood to make a fire. 露营者去搜寻柴木点火。 来自辞典例句

12 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

13 expenditure   

n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗

参考例句：

• The entry of all expenditure is necessary.有必要把一切开支入账。
• The monthly expenditure of our family is four hundred dollars altogether.我们一家的开销每月共计四百元。

14 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

15 dart   

v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲

参考例句：

• The child made a sudden dart across the road.那小孩突然冲过马路。
• Markov died after being struck by a poison dart.马尔科夫身中毒镖而亡。

16 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

17 proxy   

n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人

参考例句：

• You may appoint a proxy to vote for you.你可以委托他人代你投票。
• We enclose a form of proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting.我们附上委任年度大会代表的表格。

18 plankton   

n.浮游生物

参考例句：

• Plankton is at the bottom of the marine food chain.浮游生物处于海洋食物链的最底层。
• The plankton in the sea feeds many kinds of animals. 海的浮游生物成为很多种动物的食物。

19 steadily   

adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地

参考例句：

• The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。
• Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

20 ecosystems   

n.生态系统( ecosystem的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There are highly sensitive and delicately balanced ecosystems in the forest. 森林里有高度敏感、灵敏平衡的各种生态系统。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Madagascar's ecosystems range from rainforest to semi-desert. 马达加斯加生态系统类型多样，从雨林到半荒漠等不一而足。 来自辞典例句

21 imperative   

n.命令，需要；规则；祈使语气；adj.强制的；紧急的

参考例句：

• He always speaks in an imperative tone of voice.他老是用命令的口吻讲话。
• The events of the past few days make it imperative for her to act.过去这几天发生的事迫使她不得不立即行动。

22 rectified   

[医]矫正的，调整的

参考例句：

• I am hopeful this misunderstanding will be rectified very quickly. 我相信这个误会将很快得到纠正。
• That mistake could have been rectified within 28 days. 那个错误原本可以在28天内得以纠正。