VOA新闻杂志2022--墨西哥小镇希望建章鱼养殖场提振当地经济

Mexican Town Hopes Octopus¹ Farm Lifts Local Economy

The eight-armed sea animal known as the octopus is becoming a popular food in many parts of the world. But, as more people want to eat them, the population in the wild is decreasing.

Experts blame rising ocean water temperatures and overfishing for their falling numbers.

Octopuses² do poorly in warm water. And since they are in great demand, fishermen can make more money by catching³ them in the wild.

As a result, a small fishing village on the Yucatan peninsula in southern Mexico is working with one of the country's universities. The group wants to find out if the sea animals can be farmed successfully.

An octopus farm would help the local economy, which is being hurt because there are not as many octopi as usual. "Octopi" is one word for more than one octopus. "Octopuses" is another plural⁴ form of the word.

Carlos Rosas is a biologist at the National Autonomous⁵ University of Mexico in Mexico City. He is working to start an octopus farm in the fishing village of Sisal.

Recently, Rosas showed reporters the farm. He reached into a large tank and pulled out a baby octopus, about the size of a small ball. The octopus lives in the tank with about 250 others. The project aims to see if the babies can live to be large enough inside the tank to be sold for food.

Scientists and animal welfare activists⁶ have long been concerned about growing octopi inside tanks. The animals are believed to be able to think and also to feel happiness and worry.

Now, Rosas and his team think they may be able to keep the octopi healthy until they are large enough to sell.

They have created an octopus food made from fish waste, like heads, that are normally thrown back into the ocean by fishermen.

The food is turned into small balls which are fed to the octopi.

Rosas said the farm gets what it needs for the octopi and the fishermen can make extra money by selling their unused fish parts.

He said the plan is to make the fishing business more "efficient" and raise the number of octopi available for food.

If the project is successful, its timing⁷ will be just right. One research company predicts that by 2025, the worldwide demand for octopus will increase by over 60 percent from 2018.

A Spanish company wants to test the octopus food created by the university researchers. If it is successful, Nueva Pescanova will try to open its own octopus farm. Biologists, however, are not sure an octopus farm will be successful, even with the right food.

Sarah McAnulty studies octopi. She said the animals need to have a lot of space. They may even try to eat each other or bite their own arms.

"When you want an animal to be raised for farming, you want a lot of them in a relatively⁸ small space, and so you can't really keep them happy together," McAnulty said.

Even with the risks, Rosas said it is a good time to try to raise octopi on a farm. If the farms are successful, the number of animals in the wild can increase.

But the conservation group Oceana said the Mexican government should work harder to help the wild octopus population. Renata Terrazas is vice⁹ president of the Mexican part of Oceana. She said the government should do a better job regulating¹⁰ how much fisherman can catch.

She said it is not a good sign for the environment if a nation is trying to keep the seafood¹¹ business alive by developing farms. She said the message the effort sends is: "I don't want to do anything with the oceans and I don't care if we are depleting¹² them."

Rosas said he believes more work needs to be done to make sure octopi raised on farms are healthy. But he added, it is important to think about the fishermen in the village, who are very poor. A successful octopus farm will lift the economy.

Words in This Story

welfare –n. the state of being happy, healthy, or successful

efficient –adj. able to produce desired results without wasting materials, time, or energy

relatively –adv. when compared to others

conservation – n. the protection of animals, plants, and natural resources

regulate¹³ – v. to make rules or laws that control (something)

deplete¹⁴ – v. to use most or all of (something important); to greatly reduce the amount of (something)

1 octopus   

n.章鱼

参考例句：

• He experienced nausea after eating octopus.吃了章鱼后他感到恶心。
• One octopus has eight tentacles.一条章鱼有八根触角。

2 octopuses   

章鱼( octopus的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Snails and octopuses are molluscs. 蜗牛和章鱼是软体动物。
• Limpets, snails and octopuses are mollusks. 帽贝、蜗牛和章鱼都是软体动物。

3 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

4 plural   

n.复数；复数形式；adj.复数的

参考例句：

• Most plural nouns in English end in's '.英语的复数名词多以s结尾。
• Here you should use plural pronoun.这里你应该用复数代词。

5 autonomous   

adj.自治的；独立的

参考例句：

• They proudly declared themselves part of a new autonomous province.他们自豪地宣布成为新自治省的一部分。
• This is a matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the autonomous region.这件事是属于自治区权限以内的事务。

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 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

8 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

9 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

10 regulating   

调节

参考例句：

• In economic work, we should pay attention to opening up the source and regulating the flow from time to time. 在经济工作中，应该经常注意开源节流。
• Water quality has played a lesser role in regulating industrial sources. 水质在管制工业污染源方面发挥的作用并不大。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

11 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。

12 depleting   

使大大的减少，使空虚( deplete的现在分词 )； 耗尽，使枯竭

参考例句：

• Regulations are outlawing certain refrigerants, such as chlorofluorocarbons, which contain ozone-depleting chemicals. 随后出台的政策禁用了部分制冷剂，如破坏臭氧层的氟氯碳化合物。
• Aging, being a series of continual losses, can be keenly depleting. 老龄化，作为一个系列的连续亏损，可以清楚地消耗。

13 regulate   

vt.管理，控制，调节，调校，调整

参考例句：

• This system can regulate the temperature of the room.这种系统能调节室内温度。
• They regulate the flow of water by the sluice gate.他们用水闸门控制水的流量。

14 deplete   

v.弄空，排除，减轻，减少...体液，放去...的血

参考例句：

• Most native mammal species have been severely depleted.大多数本地哺乳动物的数量都已经大大减少了。
• Elastic collisions deplete very little of the electron's energy.弹性碰撞中电子减少的能量非常少。