密歇根新闻广播 拯救五大湖最古老鱼类

 

The U.S. and Canada are working to restore populations of a prehistoric¹ fish in the Great Lakes that was nearly wiped out. We went out with a crew of researchers to see what they're doing to bring the sturgeon back.

On the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service vessel², the N'me, researchers are crowded on the small boat. They're headed to Lake Huron at the St. Clair River. Lake Sturgeon gather there.

We weren't on the water long before a River tour ship packed with grade school kids pulls alongside.

USFWS Researcher: “Who knows what we're doing out here today?”

Kids: “Fishing!”

They'd been taught about the research, but we'd not yet pulled in any sturgeon to show the kids.

A lot of fifth graders got the chance to see and touch a sturgeon at the annual Sturgeon Festival at Port Huron. Sheri Faust is an organizer.

They're just so cool. They're so unique. Being the largest fish and they're rare you don't have opportunity to see these and these biologists are bringing that opportunity to us. So, other people see this fish and touch it, and look at it, and learn from the biologists, Faust said.

She added that the kids learn about endangered and threatened species around the world, but they don't realize there's one just off the shore of their own town.

Sturgeon are ancient. The Tyrannosaurus Rex was around about 70 million years ago. The sturgeon was around another 70 million years before that. Instead of bones, this fish has cartilage like a shark. It has a sort of armored plating to protect it. Young sturgeons have these sharp barbs³ along the ridge⁴ of their backs that will tear your hand open if you're not careful. These fish can reach 300 pounds and 100 years old.

But the commercial fishers in the 19th century had no use for them. James Boase with the Fish and Wildlife Service leads this team. He says sturgeon would tear up the nets of the fishers back then.

So, they killed sturgeons. The fish were used as fertilizer on fields, or dried and burned for fuel in steam locomotives.

Sturgeon were the bad fish at the time, but (sturgeon) caviar ultimately was one of the things that they determined⁶ was of value. The smoked sturgeon was valuable," Boase explained.

And then the sturgeon was overfished.

We're out here trying to catch females with eggs and males to fertilize⁵ them. As a long fishing line is pulled in they find they've hooked one.

Big one. Big female. Looks big anyway, one of the crew yelled out.

We can see 20 feet down into the clear water. A couple of seconds later there was a chorus of "Oh," as the fish came closer to the surface.

Several agencies on both sides of the U.S. Canadian border are collaborating⁷ to try to repopulate the sturgeon.

Justin Chiotti is another Fish and Wildlife Service researcher. He says they're still learning about the sturgeon. They know they spawn⁸ in rivers. They're going to place eggs or baby sturgeon in the Saginaw River in Michigan and the Maumee River in Ohio. They plan a couple of ways to see if they can get sturgeon to return to the same river when they're mature.

We're stocking fish from the Genoa National Fish Hatchery and Toledo Zoo where there's a stream side rearing facility along the Maumee River to compare those to stocking strategies, Chiotti explained.

The researchers tag every fish with an external tag for commercial fishers to report and a sonic tag for other researchers to find. They want a better idea of how many sturgeon there are and how far they travel.

Darryl Hondorp with the U.S. Geological Survey surgically⁹ inserts in the sturgeon's abdomen¹⁰ yet another kind of tracker.

LG: This is a little like- in fact, it is open air surgery.

DH: Yeah. That's why we got to be- This is all sterilant. Make sure we keep the wound and tools as clean as possible.

Hondorp says with these trackers they've learned that Lake Sturgeon actually spend a lot more time in the river than previously¹¹ thought. Instead of just spawning¹², the trackers show some fish never leave the river.

The researchers are hopeful about the work they're doing, but James Boase says they won't know whether it worked for sure for a long time.

“Twenty years from now, so in 2039, we expect those 2019 fish to be mature, both males and females, and traveling back up those river systems to reproduce.”

The tour ship again pulled alongside with more school kids. After showing them a 50 pounder, Chiotti asked me to help him lift an even larger one.

Chiotti: “You guys want to see a bigger one?

Kids: Yeah!

That sturgeon was 88 pounds.

The kids screamed when they saw how big it was.

These kids learning about Lake Sturgeon today will be adults when — and if — this sturgeon restoration project works.

1 prehistoric   

adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的

参考例句：

• They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
• It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。

2 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。

3 barbs   

n.（箭头、鱼钩等的）倒钩( barb的名词复数 )；带刺的话；毕露的锋芒；钩状毛

参考例句：

• She slung barbs at me. 她说了些讥刺我的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I would no longer uncomplainingly accept their barbs or allow their unaccountable power to go unchallenged. 我不会再毫无怨言地洗耳恭听他们带刺的话，或让他们的不负责任的权力不受到挑战。 来自辞典例句

4 ridge   

n.山脊；鼻梁；分水岭

参考例句：

• We clambered up the hillside to the ridge above.我们沿着山坡费力地爬上了山脊。
• The infantry were advancing to attack the ridge.步兵部队正在向前挺进攻打山脊。

5 fertilize   

v.使受精，施肥于，使肥沃

参考例句：

• Fertilizer is a substance put on land to fertilize it.肥料是施在地里使之肥沃的物质。
• Reading will fertilize his vocabulary.阅读会丰富他的词汇。

6 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

7 collaborating   

合作( collaborate的现在分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• Joe is collaborating on the work with a friend. 乔正与一位朋友合作做那件工作。
• He was not only learning from but also collaborating with Joseph Thomson. 他不仅是在跟约瑟福？汤姆逊学习，而且也是在和他合作。

8 spawn   

n.卵，产物，后代，结果；vt.产卵，种菌丝于，产生，造成；vi.产卵，大量生产

参考例句：

• The fish were madly pushing their way upstream to spawn.鱼群为产卵而疯狂地向上游挤进。
• These fish will lay spawn in about one month from now.这些鱼大约一个月内会产卵。

9 surgically   

adv. 外科手术上, 外科手术一般地

参考例句：

• Unsightly moles can be removed surgically. 不雅观的痣可以手术去除。
• To bypass this impediment an almost mature egg cell is removed surgically. 为了克服这一障碍，通过手术，取出一个差不多成熟的卵细胞。

10 abdomen   

n.腹，下腹(胸部到腿部的部分)

参考例句：

• How to know to there is ascarid inside abdomen?怎样知道肚子里面有蛔虫？
• He was anxious about an off-and-on pain the abdomen.他因时隐时现的腹痛而焦虑。

11 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

12 spawning   

产卵

参考例句：

• Encounter sites have a small chance of spawning a "Commander" NPC. 遭遇战地区有很小的几率遇到NPC指挥官。
• Instantly revives your Champion at your Spawning Pool, 9 minute cooldown. 立即在出生地复活你的英雄，冷却时间9分钟。