mostly a coral reef ecologist.

我是生態學家，

I started out in Chesapeake Bay

大多是做珊瑚礁生態研究。

and went diving in the winter

一開始我是從柴斯比克灣開始，

and became a tropical ecologist overnight.

在寒冷的冬天潛入海水，

And it was really a lot of fun

但一夜之間我成了熱帶生態學家，

for about 10 years.

這是一件很棒的事，

I mean, somebody pays you

大概持續了十年左右。

to go around and travel

我是說，有人付錢請你

and look at some of the most

四處遊歷，

beautiful places on the planet.

尋找一些這世界上

And that was what I did.

最美麗的地方，

And I ended up in Jamaica,

而那就是我的工作。

in the West Indies,

最後我來到西印度群島的

where the coral reefs were really

牙買加，

among the most extraordinary, structurally,

那裡的珊瑚礁

that I ever saw in my life.

是我所見過最特別、

And this picture here,

也是最完整的一個。

it's really interesting, it shows two things:

這張照片很有趣，

First of all, it's in black and white

它隱含了兩個涵意。

because the water was so clear

首先，這是黑白的，

and you could see so far,

因為海水非常清澈，

and film was so slow

所以你可以看到很遠，

in the 1960s and early 70s,

而且在1960和70年代初期，

you took pictures in black and white.

照片還不普及，

The other thing it shows you

所以只能拍黑白照片。

is that, although there's this beautiful

另外一個涵意是，

forest of coral,

雖然整個珊瑚森林

there are no fish in that picture.

非常美麗，

Those reefs at Discovery Bay, Jamaica

在照片裡卻連隻魚都沒有。

were the most studied coral reefs

這些在牙買加發現灣的珊瑚礁，

in the world for 20 years.

是世界上近二十年來，被研究得

We were the best and the brightest.

最透徹的珊瑚礁，

People came to study our reefs from Australia,

我們有最好、最棒的珊瑚礁。

which is sort of funny

還有人遠從澳洲來研究這些珊瑚礁，

because now we go to theirs.

想想有點好笑，

And the view of scientists

因為我們現在還得去他們那裡觀摩。

about how coral reefs work, how they ought to be,

科學家對於

was based on these reefs

珊瑚礁如何運作、演變的概念，

without any fish.

全都來自於這些

Then, in 1980,

沒有魚的珊瑚礁。

there was a hurricane, Hurricane Allen.

1980年時，

I put half the lab

颶風艾倫來襲，

up in my house.

我把半間實驗室

The wind blew very strong.

建在家裡。

The waves were 25

風非常強，

to 50 feet high.

而浪有25到

And the reefs disappeared, and new islands formed,

50英呎(8~16公尺)高，

and we thought, "Well, we're real smart.

然後珊瑚礁消失，形成新島嶼。

We know that hurricanes

我們想，「好吧，還好我們很聰明，

have always happened in the past."

知道颶風

And we published a paper in Science,

從以前就常常來襲。」

the first time that anybody ever

所以我們在《科學》期刊上發表了一篇論文，

described the destruction

這是第一次有人報導

on a coral reef by a major hurricane.

大型颶風對珊瑚礁

And we predicted what would happen,

所造成的破壞，

and we got it all wrong.

我們也預測了之後會發生什麼事。

And the reason was

結果我們都錯了。

because of overfishing,

真正的原因是因為

and the fact that a last common grazer,

過度捕撈，

a sea urchin, died.

連最後的掠食者

And within a few months

海膽也消失了。

after that sea urchin dying, the seaweed started to grow.

而在幾個月之內，

And that is the same reef;

海膽逐漸死亡，海藻便開始生長。

that's the same reef 15 years ago;

這是十五年前，

that's the same reef today.

同一個珊瑚礁的照片，

The coral reefs of the north coast of Jamaica

然後這是現在的珊瑚礁。

have a few percent live coral cover

牙買加北岸的珊瑚礁

and a lot of seaweed and slime.

只剩極少的珊瑚存活，

And that's more or less the story

其他大多是海藻或爛泥。

of the coral reefs of the Caribbean,

這或多或少就是

and increasingly, tragically,

加勒比海珊瑚礁的遭遇，

the coral reefs worldwide.

也是世界上其他更多、

Now, that's my little, depressing story.

更可悲的珊瑚礁的遭遇。

All of us in our 60s and 70s

這是我個人哀傷的親身經歷，

have comparable depressing stories.

而在60和70年代，很多人

There are tens of thousands

都有類似的遭遇，

of those stories out there,

世界上還有成千上萬個

and it's really hard to conjure up

這樣的故事。

much of a sense of well-being,

很難想像

because it just keeps getting worse.

一切會逐漸好轉過來，

And the reason it keeps getting worse

因為情況一直在惡化，

is that after a natural catastrophe,

而會持續惡化的原因是，

like a hurricane,

在經過颶風

it used to be that there was

這樣的自然災害後，

some kind of successional sequence of recovery,

本來應該會透過

but what's going on now is that

消長演替而自然好轉的珊瑚礁，

overfishing and pollution and climate change

現在則因為

are all interacting

漁業過度捕撈、污染還有氣候變遷等

in a way that prevents that.

互相影響，

And so I'm going to sort of go through

而使自然消長無法進行。

and talk about those three

所以我接下來會

kinds of things.

一一解釋

We hear a lot about

這三件事情。

the collapse of cod.

(過度捕撈)大家都聽過很多

It's difficult to imagine that

關於鱈魚捕撈業瓦解的事情，

two, or some historians would say three world wars

很難想像有二次，

were fought during the colonial era

或者有些歷史學家說三次世界大戰，

for the control of cod.

都是為了要控制鱈魚，

Cod fed most of the people of Western Europe.

而在殖民時期爆發。

It fed the slaves

鱈魚養活了西歐大部分的人口，

brought to the Antilles,

也養活了

the song "Jamaica Farewell" --

從安地列斯群島來的奴隸。

"Ackee rice salt fish are nice" --

"再會牙買加"這首歌中有一句：

is an emblem of the importance

"阿開木果、米飯、鹹魚亦可口"

of salt cod from northeastern Canada.

便象徵著

It all collapsed in the 80s and the 90s:

加拿大東北鹽漬鱈魚的重要性。

35,000 people lost their jobs.

但在80和90年代整個鱈魚漁業瓦解，

And that was the beginning

三萬五千人失業，

of a kind of serial depletion

而這只是一連串

from bigger and tastier species

資源耗竭的開端，

to smaller and not-so-tasty species,

原本你有好吃的大魚，

from species that were near to home

後來只能吃不那麼可口的小魚；

to species that were all around the world,

原本只捕撈鄰近的漁種，

and what have you.

後來開始捕撈世界各地的其他漁種，

It's a little hard to understand that,

這都是我們自己造成的。

because you can go to a Costco in the United States

這或許不大容易理解，

and buy cheap fish.

因為在美國，你可以在好市多

You ought to read the label to find out where it came from,

買到便宜的魚，

but it's still cheap,

你得從標籤上才能知道這魚是從哪來的，

and everybody thinks it's okay.

但那還是很便宜，

It's hard to communicate this,

所以大家覺得這沒什麼。

and one way that I think is really interesting

我覺得很難對大眾講清楚這個道理，

is to talk about sport fish,

但我覺得可以舉休閒釣魚這個有趣的例子，

because people like to go out and catch fish.

來讓大家瞭解這個道理，

It's one of those things.

因為大家都喜歡到戶外抓魚，

This picture here shows the trophy fish,

這便是其中之一。

the biggest fish caught

這張照片是大獎魚，

by people who pay a lot of money

也就是參賽者裡所釣到最大隻的魚，

to get on a boat,

這些參賽者會花大把銀子

go to a place off of Key West in Florida,

去搭船，

drink a lot of beer,

到佛羅里達州的西嶼某處，

throw a lot of hooks and lines into the water,

拼命灌啤酒、

come back with the biggest and the best fish,

下很多魚鉤，

and the champion trophy fish

然後帶著最大最好的魚回來，

are put on this board, where people take a picture,

而最大的冠軍魚，

and this guy is obviously

會被放到這板子上給人拍照，

really excited about that fish.

而這傢伙顯然

Well, that's what it's like now,

非常興奮。

but this is what it was like in the 1950s

也許現在是這樣，

from the same boat in the same place

但這是1950年時

on the same board on the same dock.

從同一條船上，

The trophy fish

在同一個地點同一個碼頭的同一塊板子上拍的

were so big

大獎魚，

that you couldn't put any of those small fish up on it.

那條魚超大，

And the average size trophy fish

大到其他的小魚都放不下，

weighed 250 to 300 pounds, goliath grouper,

那時大獎魚的平均重量

and if you wanted to go out and kill something,

是250到300磅，像巨人哥利亞一樣。

you could pretty much count on

你如果想到外面去捕點魚，

being able to catch one of those fish.

便很有可能會

And they tasted really good.

釣到一條像這樣的魚，

And people paid less in 1950 dollars

而且真的很好吃。

to catch that

在1950年代要釣到這樣的魚，

than what people pay now

比現在便宜多了，

to catch those little, tiny fish.

而現在只能抓到

And that's everywhere.

那些小小的魚，

It's not just the fish, though,

到處都只能看到這些小魚。

that are disappearing.

消失的

Industrial fishing uses big stuff,

不只是魚而已。

big machinery.

商業捕撈用的是大傢伙、

We use nets that are 20 miles long.

大機具，

We use longlines

他們用的漁網有20哩(32公里)長，

that have one million or two million hooks.

他們也使用上面有

And we trawl,

一兩百萬個魚鉤的延繩釣線，

which means to take something

還有底拖網，

the size of a tractor trailer truck

也就是把一個

that weighs thousands and thousands of pounds,

大得像連結車、

put it on a big chain,

重達幾千磅的東西

and drag it across the sea floor

裝上鐵鍊，

to stir up the bottom and catch the fish.

然後拖過海底，

Think of it as

把底部亂攪一通來捕魚。

being kind of the bulldozing of a city

這就像是

or of a forest,

摧毀一整個城市

because it clears it away.

或森林一樣，

And the habitat destruction

一掃而空，

is unbelievable.

造成難以想像

This is a photograph,

的棲地破壞。

a typical photograph,

這是

of what the continental shelves

世界上典型

of the world look like.

大陸棚區

You can see the rows in the bottom,

的照片，

the way you can see the rows

你可以看到海底有一條條的痕跡，

in a field that has just been plowed

那一條條的痕跡就像是

to plant corn.

剛犁好田的土地，

What that was, was a forest of sponges and coral,

要來種玉米。

which is a critical habitat

而這從前是海綿和珊瑚的叢林，

for the development of fish.

是魚類生長發育的

What it is now is mud,

重要棲地，

and the area of the ocean floor

現在變成一堆泥土。

that has been transformed from forest

整個海底被破壞，

to level mud, to parking lot,

從森林變成

is equivalent to the entire area

泥地，再變成停車場，

of all the forests

整個被破壞的面積相當於

that have ever been cut down

人類歷史上

on all of the earth

曾在地球上

in the history of humanity.

砍伐過的

We've managed to do that

所有森林的總面積。

in the last 100 to 150 years.

而這已經持續了

We tend to think of oil spills

一百到一百五十年。

and mercury

（污染）我們常會先想到漏油

and we hear a lot about plastic these days.

或水銀，

And all of that stuff is really disgusting,

還有最近常聽到的塑膠產品，

but what's really insidious

這些東西都很討人厭，

is the biological pollution that happens

但最棘手的是

because of the magnitude of the shifts

生物污染，

that it causes

會使整個生態體系，

to entire ecosystems.

產生大規模

And I'm going to just talk very briefly

的轉變。

about two kinds of biological pollution:

我在這裡只簡單講

one is introduced species

兩種生物污染，

and the other is what comes from nutrients.

一個是外來種，

So this is the infamous

另外一個則因養分滋養而大量繁殖。

Caulerpa taxifolia,

這是惡名昭彰的

the so-called killer algae.

Caulerpa taxifolia（羽毛藻），

A book was written about it.

又叫殺手藻，

It's a bit of an embarrassment.

有一本書專門在講這種藻類。

It was accidentally released

尷尬的是，

from the aquarium in Monaco,

這是不小心從

it was bred to be cold tolerant

摩納哥的水族館裡跑出來的。

to have in peoples aquaria.

這是人類培養的耐冷藻類，

It's very pretty,

可以養在水族箱裡，

and it has rapidly started

很漂亮，

to overgrow

一下子就大量繁殖起來，

the once very rich

覆蓋了

biodiversity of the

曾經有

northwestern Mediterranean.

豐富多樣性物種的

I don't know how many of you remember the movie

地中海西北海岸。

"The Little Shop of Horrors,"

我不知道有多少人還記得

but this is the plant of "The Little Shop of Horrors."

《異形奇花》這部電影，

But, instead of devouring the people in the shop,

這藻類就是裡面那朵花，

what it's doing is overgrowing

但它不會吃掉店裡的人，

and smothering

它反而是拼命繁殖，

virtually all of the bottom-dwelling life

然後把所有

of the entire northwestern

地中海西北岸

Mediterranean Sea.

的底棲生物

We don't know anything that eats it,

都給悶死。

we're trying to do all sorts of genetics

我們不知道有什麼生物會吃它們，

and figure out something that could be done,

也試著用遺傳工程

but, as it stands, it's the monster from hell,

或是其他任何方法來解決，

about which nobody knows what to do.

但是它們還在，像是從地獄來的怪物，

Now another form of pollution

沒人知道該拿它們怎麼辦。

that's biological pollution

另外一種污染則是

is what happens from excess nutrients.

因為養分過多所造成的

The green revolution,

生物污染。

all of this artificial nitrogen fertilizer, we use too much of it.

農業改革後，

It's subsidized, which is one of the reasons we used too much of it.

人類大量使用化學氮肥，

It runs down the rivers,

政府還會補助，這也是為什麼農民總是用太多肥料的原因。

and it feeds the plankton,

剩下的肥料則被河流帶走，

the little microscopic plant cells

滋養浮游植物，

in the coastal water.

就是生長在近岸海域裡的

But since we ate all the oysters

微小植物。

and we ate all the fish that would eat the plankton,

但我們已經把牡蠣

there's nothing to eat the plankton

還有會吃浮游植物的魚給吃光了，

and there's more and more of it,

所以沒有生物會吃浮游植物，

so it dies of old age,

浮游植物不斷累積，

which is unheard of for plankton.

他們在很老的時候才會死掉，

And when it dies, it falls to the bottom

這對浮游植物來說是很少見的情形。

and then it rots,

浮游植物死後，會沈降到海底，

which means that bacteria break it down.

開始腐化，

And in the process

也就是被細菌分解；

they use up all the oxygen,

在這整個過程中，

and in using up all the oxygen

會消耗掉所有氧氣，

they make the environment utterly lethal

當氧氣用完時，

for anything that can't swim away.

對無法游走的生物來說，

So, what we end up with

那裡就成了足以致命的危險地帶。