VOA慢速英语2010年-Activists Say Fishing Limit Not Enough

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

An international group has set the limit for next year's catch of bluefin tuna in the eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean¹ Sea. The limit is just under thirteen thousand metric tons. That is six hundred tons less than this year's quota², a reduction of four percent.

Conservation groups criticized the move, saying the cut is not big enough to support the recovery of bluefin tuna in the Mediterranean.

The International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas set the catch late last month in Paris. Delegates to the commission represent the governments of forty-eight fishing nations.

In two thousand six, the commission established a plan to stop overfishing. The goal is to rebuild bluefin populations in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean by twenty twenty-two.

The European Commission had called for reducing next year's catch to six thousand tons to improve the chances for the huge and highly valuable fish. But Mediterranean members of the European Union rejected that proposal even before the ten-day meeting began.

Still, EU Fisheries Commissioner³ Maria Damanaki said the meeting took "a step in the right direction for sustainable management" of bluefin tuna.

Bluefin tuna being cut up on a Japanese fishing vessel⁴

The fishing industry wanted to keep the existing catch limit.

Atlantic bluefin can grow three meters long and weigh as much as six hundred fifty kilograms. France, Italy and Spain catch most of the Atlantic bluefin eaten in the world. Most of the catch goes to Japan.

Japan called for stronger action against illegal fishing and under-reporting of bluefin catches.

Conservation activists⁶ say the eastern Atlantic has only about one-fourth as many bluefin tuna as it did in the nineteen fifties. And the population in the western Atlantic has dropped by more than eighty percent since nineteen seventy.

Environmental groups say illegal fishing and under-reporting might mean there are even fewer bluefin than estimates suggest.

The Center for Biological Diversity, an activist⁵ group, recently launched a boycott⁷ of the prized fish. It says thousands of people around the world have signed a promise not to eat bluefin tuna or spend money at sushi restaurants that still serve it.

Susan Lieberman of the Pew Environment Group in Washington says people should care what happens to fish that are important to the environment of the sea.

SUSAN LIEBERMAN: "Management of fish species on the high seas is not just about making sure people have nice seafood⁸ when they go to a restaurant. It is about the very future of our planet."

And that’s the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. I’m Bob Doughty⁹.
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Contributing: Arash Arabasadi, Jerilyn Watson and Reuters

1 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

2 quota   

n.（生产、进出口等的）配额，（移民的）限额

参考例句：

• A restricted import quota was set for meat products.肉类产品设定了进口配额。
• He overfulfilled his production quota for two months running.他一连两个月超额完成生产指标。

3 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

4 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。

5 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

6 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

8 seafood   

n.海产食品，海味，海鲜

参考例句：

• There's an excellent seafood restaurant near here.离这儿不远有家非常不错的海鲜馆。
• Shrimps are a popular type of seafood.小虾是比较普遍的一种海味。

9 doughty   

adj.勇猛的，坚强的

参考例句：

• Most of successful men have the characteristics of contumacy and doughty.绝大多数成功人士都有共同的特质：脾气倔强，性格刚强。
• The doughty old man battled his illness with fierce determination.坚强的老人用巨大毅力与疾病作斗争。