时代周刊:力挽狂澜(6)（在线收听）

The higher goal can be reached only by establishing protected areas in the high seas,

更为远大的目标只能通过在公海上建立保护区才能实现，

which are open to all nations and will require a broad consensus.

而公海是对所有国家开放的，要建立公海保护区就需要达成广泛的共识。

Negotiations to forge a U.N. treaty for the oceans had been scheduled for March 2020 but were postponed because of the coronavirus.

缔结联合国公海保护区条约的谈判原定于2020年3月举行，后因疫情搁浅。

Protecting areas of the high seas, which account for 60% of the oceans, won't be an easy undertaking.

公海占世界海洋总面积的60%，在公海上设立保护区绝非易事。

For proof, you need only look south to the seas surrounding Antarctica,

要论证据，大家只需将目光往南，投向南极洲周围的海洋便可，

home to some of the most rare, vulnerable and critical ecosystems in the world.

那里有着世界上最稀有、最脆弱也最关键的部分生态系统。

Coldwater currents spiraling away from the continent push the region's nutrient-rich waters across the planet,

从南极洲向外逐渐荡开的冷洋流将该地区营养丰富的水流推向世界各地，

pumping life into coastal fisheries even north of the equator.

不断地为沿途的沿海渔场，甚至是赤道以北的沿海渔场注入活力。

Rising temperatures threaten this precarious environment.

不断上升的气温对本就缺乏稳定性的这一环境无异于一种威胁。

In January, a team of scientists with New York's Stony Brook University

今年一月，纽约石溪大学的一群科学家

conducted a census of chinstrap penguins on the rocky islands and rugged shores of the Antarctic peninsula,

对生活在南极半岛的岩岛及崎岖海岸上的帽带企鹅进行了一次普查，

braving pounding surf, howling winds and piles of knee-deep guano to count nesting birds by hand.

他们冒着狂风骇浪，在一堆堆齐膝深的鸟粪中手工清点了这些巢居鸟类。

These birds feed exclusively on krill,

这些企鹅只以磷虾为食，

the tiny shrimp-like creatures that form the backbone of the entire ocean food chain,

而磷虾这种迷你虾一样的生物堪称挑起了整个海洋食物链的顶梁柱，

and their condition gives a picture of the overall health of the region.

它们的状况便能反映出该地区生态的整体健康状况。

They are the canaries in the Southern Ocean's coal mine, and they are starting to disappear.

它们就相当于南大洋这一矿藏里的金丝雀。问题是，它们已经开始消失了。

The researchers found that most colonies they surveyed had declined over the past 50 years, some by half and others up to 77%.

研究人员发现，过去50年里，他们调查的大多数磷虾种群都在缩小，有些已经锐减了一半，另一些甚至缩减了77%。

"This big of a drop means that there is something broken in the Southern Ocean,"

“如此大的萎缩幅度就意味着南大洋有什么东西坏了，”

said ornithologist Noah Strycker, as he paused to watch a pair of fluffy gray chicks waddle through his survey site on Snow Island.

正停下来看着一对毛茸茸的灰色小企鹅摇摇晃晃地穿过他在雪岛的勘测点的鸟类学家诺亚·斯特里克说。

"Climate change is potentially driving shifts in krill populations,

“气候变化可能就是正在推动磷虾种群发生变化的推手之一，

and then that's rippling its way up the food web and affecting the penguins."

而磷虾种群的变化又会引起涟漪反应，顺着食物链影响到企鹅的生态。”

The continent of Antarctica is protected from exploitation by international agreement, but the waters around it are not.

根据国际协议，南极洲大陆是受保护，不允许开发的，其周边的水域例外。

The Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR),

南极海洋生物资源保护委员会(CCAMLR)，

a body made up of 25 countries and the European Union,

一个由25个国家与欧盟组成的机构，

committed in 2009 to establish a network of nine large-scale marine protected areas around the continent.

该委员会于2009年承诺，围绕南极洲大陆建立九个大规模海洋保护区，形成一个网络。

The one in the Ross Sea, twice the area of Texas, is the largest such region in the world.

最大的保护区则是罗斯海的保护区，面积相当于德克萨斯州的两倍。