AGRICULTURE REPORT - Fish Farming

AGRICULTURE REPORT - Fish Farming
By Mario Ritter

Broadcast: Tuesday, June 15, 2004

This is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English Agriculture Report.

Fish is an important food for many people. In some places, it is the only animal protein to be found. For years, scientists have worried about supplies of ocean fish. As wild catches have decreased, many nations have turned to fish farming.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says farmed fish represented four percent of world fish production in nineteen-seventy. By two-thousand it was twenty-seven percent.

China is the largest producer of fish, farmed or wild. In two-thousand, China harvested about twenty-five million tons of farmed fish. India, Japan and Thailand are also big producers.

Fish farming has long been considered a way to improve the diets of people in developing areas. The F.A.O. says developing nations produce ninety percent of all farmed fish.

But there are some problems connected with fish farming. Critics say it can cause not just water pollution. They say there is also "genetic¹ pollution" when farmed fish reproduce² with wild fish.

Others say that farming some kinds of seafood³ is wasteful⁴. They argue that salmon⁵ and eel⁶, for example, eat more resources than they provide. Often they are fed with products prepared from wild fish.

Also, a recent study of farmed salmon found that their food may contain higher levels of industrial pollution than salmon eat in the wild. But these levels were still well within legal limits.

Another issue involves the lack of international rules about the use of antibiotics⁷ in farming. Some farmers feed these drugs to fish, just like cows and other animals, to prevent infections. The F.A.O. notes that there can be health risks to humans who eat the drugs through their food. Experts are concerned that this also reduces the effectiveness of antibiotics.

The farmed fish industry is growing quickly in Asia. It is also growing in other parts of the world, including North America. In the United States, the value of the aquaculture industry has reached one-thousand-million dollars. That is one-third the value of the capture⁸ fishing industry.

But scientists say most kinds of wild fish have been harvested too much. Farmed fish can help reduce pressure on populations in the wild. Still, experts and organizations like the F.A.O. warn that just like any other kind of farming, good methods are required.

This VOA Special English Agriculture Report was written by Mario Ritter. This is Steve Ember.

1 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

2 reproduce   

v.生育，繁殖，复制，重做

参考例句：

• The machine can reproduce a key in two minutes.这机器能在两分钟内复制一把钥匙。
• The picture will reproduce well.这照片会印得很清楚。

3 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。

4 wasteful   

adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的

参考例句：

• It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
• Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源，任务已经重新分派。

5 salmon   

n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的

参考例句：

• We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
• Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗？

6 eel   

n.鳗鲡

参考例句：

• He used an eel spear to catch an eel.他用一只捕鳗叉捕鳗鱼。
• In Suzhou,there was a restaurant that specialized in eel noodles.苏州有一家饭馆，他们那里的招牌菜是鳗鱼面。

7 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

8 capture   

vt.捕获，俘获；占领，夺得；n.抓住，捕获

参考例句：

• The company is out to capture the European market.这家公司希望占据欧洲市场。
• With the capture of the escaped tiger,everyone felt relieved.逃出来的老虎被捕获后，大家都松了一口气。