Tough to spot in the waters near the northern tip of Vancouver Island.

在溫哥華島北端附近水域很難發現。

Usually out of these reefs we have otters.

通常在這些暗礁中，我們會看到水獺。

It's critical to find and count them to document their growing impact on the ecosystem.

關鍵是要找到並統計它們，以記錄它們對生態系統日益增長的影響。

Yeah there's one lying on his back.

是的，有一個仰面躺著。

Right on, oh yeah, got him.

對，哦，是的，找到他了。

Right up in the air.

就在空中。

Once wiped out entirely in B.C. by the fur trade, they are now making a comeback.

在不列顛哥倫比亞省，毛皮貿易曾一度將它們徹底消滅，但現在它們又捲土重來。

Now I see two more heads in there a little closer to us right in the kelp.

現在，我看到還有兩個頭在離我們稍近一點的地方，就在海藻裡。

One, two, so right now I see a female with a pup and the mom's just come up she's giving her head a shake.

一，二，現在我看到一隻母的帶著一隻幼崽，母的剛走過來，搖了搖頭。

Given their history as targets they have good reason to be wary.

鑑於他們曾是攻擊目標，他們有充分的理由保持警惕。

They can smell us from here they can probably hear the motor and the wind is blowing us right so you can see their heads just trying to get away from us.

它們從這裡就能聞到我們的氣味，也許還能聽到馬達的聲音，風又把我們吹向右邊，所以你可以看到它們的頭正試圖遠離我們。

Researcher Erin Foster takes advantage of a calm day.

研究員艾琳-福斯特（Erin Foster）利用風平浪靜的一天。

I think it's just behind the rocks.

我想它就在岩石後面。

To go ashore and count groups of otters called rafts.

上岸清點被稱為筏子的水獺群。

On this trip we come across a growing colony of nearly 60 animals.

在這次旅行中，我們遇到了一個不斷壯大的動物群落，有近 60 只動物。

They look like they're scared actually but sometimes the wind will blow the raft apart a little bit.

其實它們看起來很害怕，但有時風會把木筏吹散一點。

Despite their cute and fuzzy looks otters are a top predator.

儘管水獺看起來毛茸茸的很可愛，但它們卻是頂級掠食者。

Eating kilo after kilo of shellfish every day.

每天吃掉一公斤又一公斤的貝類。

Gooey duck clams, urchins, crabs and other underwater creatures.

黏糊糊的鴨蛤、海膽、螃蟹和其他水下生物。

So what am I looking at?

我在看什麼？

Yeah so I mean my guess would be he's a territorial male.

是的，所以我猜它是隻領地雄性。

He's quite fat.

他很胖。

And the other one's not so shy as a lot of them.

另一個也不像很多人那麼害羞。

And he's checking us out he's looking right at us.

他在打量我們 他在看著我們

He definitely knows we're here and he looks very big and healthy.

他肯定知道我們在這裡，而且他看起來非常高大健康。

Their luxurious pelts made them a target for the fur trade starting in the 1700s.

從 17 世紀開始，它們奢華的皮毛成為毛皮貿易的目標。

Once in the tens of thousands they were wiped out with the last known otter in B.C. shot in 1929.

水獺的數量一度達到數萬只，但隨著不列顛哥倫比亞省最後一隻水獺於 1929 年被槍殺，水獺的數量也隨之銳減。

But their return wasn't by accident. 50 years ago Canadian biologists traveled to Alaska to capture and relocate enough otters to resurrect them on the B.C. coast.

但它們的迴歸並非偶然。50 年前，加拿大生物學家前往阿拉斯加，捕捉並重新安置了足夠的水獺，使它們在不列顛哥倫比亞省海岸復活。

It turned out to be a giant experiment on the entire west coast ecosystem.

它變成了整個西海岸生態系統的一次巨大實驗。

In 1970 a Coast Guard ship was converted to transport a large number of otters to the west coast of Vancouver Island.

1970 年，海岸警衛隊改裝了一艘船，將大量水獺運往溫哥華島西海岸。

Sea otters were released in British Columbian waters.

在不列顛哥倫比亞水域放生了海獺。

This may not have been home but home was never like this.

這裡也許不是家，但家從來都不是這樣的。

It's a remarkable conservation success really when you think about it.

仔細想想，這確實是一個了不起的保護成果。

Sea otters were extirpated in British Columbia by the early 1900s.

20 世紀初，海獺在不列顛哥倫比亞省滅絕。

In the past 50 years they've spread.

在過去的 50 年裡，它們已經蔓延開來。

From the 89 otters released there are now more than 8,000 on the B.C. coast.

在放生的 89 只水獺中，目前不列顛哥倫比亞省海岸上有 8000 多隻。

Sea otters are unusual just because they have such a huge appetite and the change is so immediate and so direct.

海獺之所以與眾不同，是因為它們的食量非常大，而且變化是如此直接和迅速。

I mean it's night and day.

我是說，這簡直是天壤之別。

Vancouver Island University Professor Emeritus Jane Watson has been studying sea otters for more than 30 years and was one of the first to document their profound impact.

溫哥華島大學名譽教授簡-沃森（Jane Watson）研究海獺已有 30 多年，是最早記錄海獺深遠影響的人之一。

No one was expecting it when sea otters were reintroduced no one knew that that they were going to change ecosystem.

當海獺被重新引進時，沒有人想到它們會改變生態系統。

What they also didn't know was how it would impact the multi-million dollar shellfish industry and the diets of many coastal Indigenous people.

他們還不知道的是，這將對價值數百萬美元的貝類產業和許多沿海土著居民的飲食產生怎樣的影響。

We had a big slum beach in Cayuga Ductees.

我們在卡尤加-杜德斯（Cayuga Ductees）有一個很大的貧民窟海灘。

That was the best slum beach there ever was. 98-year-old Cayugan elder Hilda Hansen saw otters decimate clams, urchins and other foods inside her community's traditional territory.

那是最好的貧民窟海灘。98 歲的卡尤甘老人希爾達-漢森（Hilda Hansen）目睹了水獺在她的社區傳統領地內捕食蛤蜊、海膽和其他食物。

Something documented in a Simon Fraser University research project.

西蒙弗雷澤大學的一個研究項目記錄了一些情況。

Indigenous leaders hadn't been consulted and scientists hadn't foreseen the impact of the otters reintroduction on the food chain.

沒有徵求原住民領袖的意見，科學家也沒有預見到重新引進水獺對食物鏈的影響。

But their return has an underwater upside.

但是，他們的回報有一個水下的上升空間。

This is what's known as a sea urchin barren created when the urchin population explodes.

這就是海膽數量激增時產生的所謂海膽荒地。

Without otters to control them, urchins devoured once huge kelp forests.

沒有了水獺的控制，海膽吞噬了曾經巨大的海藻林。

But now with otters returning scuba divers are seeing the kelp come back.

但現在，隨著水獺的迴歸，潛水員們看到海藻又回來了。

Marine naturalist and scuba diver Jackie Hildering specializes in photographing kelp.

海洋博物學家和潛水員 Jackie Hildering 擅長拍攝海藻。

The otters have done their work here.

水獺在這裡完成了它們的工作。

Like I went down thinking I'll be back in a few minutes with an urchin and ridiculously all I could find is one urchin test of a green urchin.

就像我下去時想著幾分鐘後就帶著海膽回來，但可笑的是，我只能找到一個綠海膽的海膽試驗。

Once the urchins are eaten by the returning otters kelp quickly grows back.

海膽被返回的水獺吃掉後，海藻很快又長了出來。

It plays a vital role in the underwater web of life.

它在水下生命網絡中發揮著至關重要的作用。

Sheltering all kinds of creatures and kelp even sequesters large amounts of carbon.

海帶庇護著各種生物，甚至還能封存大量的碳。

Which helps combat climate change.

這有助於應對氣候變化。

All kinds of signs of reproduction happening down there.

下面有各種繁殖的跡象。

Huge rosin enemies.

巨大的松香敵人

I ended up in a school of juvenile herring.

最後，我來到了一群幼鯡魚中。

So many juvenile rockfish.

這麼多幼年巖魚

Kelp greenling.

海帶青蛙

While Indigenous people had little say in the return of the sea otters they're now adapting to the changes they're bringing.

雖然原住民對海獺的迴歸幾乎沒有發言權，但他們現在正在適應海獺帶來的變化。

All right.

好的

So where are we?

我們現在在哪裡？

We're at a place called Humdaspik.

我們在一個叫胡姆達斯皮克的地方。

So it means the place of otter and it's an old ancient village site.

是以，它的意思是水獺的地方，是一個古老的村落遺址。

Mike Willey is a hereditary chief from Kingcom Inlet.

Mike Willey 是來自 Kingcom Inlet 的世襲酋長。

And also owns a wilderness tour company.

他還擁有一家野外旅遊公司。

Boardwalk this whole place with tent platforms.

這裡的木板路都是帳篷平臺。

He's planning a high-end camping outpost for tourists paying a thousand dollars a night.

他正計劃為遊客建造一個高端露營前哨，每晚花費一千美元。

I'm excited about it.

我很興奮。

It's bringing a new economy isn't it?

它帶來了新的經濟，不是嗎？

Sea otter, sea otter viewing.

海獺，觀賞海獺。

It's bringing us giving our First Nations a chance out here to take part in mainstream economy.

這給我們原住民帶來了參與主流經濟的機會。

He grew up on the water and sees a big difference between places that have sea otters and those that don't.

他是在水邊長大的，他認為有海獺和沒有海獺的地方差別很大。

Such as his home community to the south.

比如他家南邊的社區。

You see the change.

你看到了變化。

It's different down there.

下面就不一樣了。

There's hardly any kelp forest down there.

下面幾乎沒有海藻林。

But there's lots of life up here.

但這裡有很多生命。

It's another world up here.

這裡是另一個世界

And the balance that the otters will bring right is yet to be seen.

而水獺將帶來的平衡還有待觀察。

There's a couple tiny pups in this group.

這組裡有幾隻小狗崽。

For thousands of years this coast was home to both sea otters and people.

數千年來，這片海岸一直是海獺和人類的家園。

The key now is finding a fresh balance.

現在的關鍵是找到新的平衡。

Greg Rasmussen, CBC News, Pope Island, B.C.

格雷格-拉斯穆森（Greg Rasmussen），CBC 新聞，不列顛哥倫比亞省波普島。