美国国家公共电台 NPR Alaska Fishermen Hauling A Bigger Catch With Gear They Get To Use For The First Time

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Alaska's halibut and black cod¹ fishermen are in a food fight with killer² whales. But some fishermen are now using a new piece of gear that prevents the whales from stealing their catch. From member station KBBI in Homer, Alaska, Aaron Bolton reports.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yeah, right there's one, right underneath³ you - a killer whale.

BILL HARRINGTON: Oh, you dirty [expletive].

AARON BOLTON, BYLINE⁴: Bill Harrington is not happy. A pod of killer whales is swarming⁵ his boat as he returns to pull in his line. The sound is a dinner bell for both the pod and a large sperm⁶ whale that surfaces about 20 feet from his boat.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

HARRINGTON: Whoa, mother [expletive].

BOLTON: This video was shot 10 years ago when Harrington was a longline fisherman. Harrington and his crew would travel a hundred miles or more and bait thousands of hooks attached to a commercial fishing line by hand before anchoring it to the ocean floor between two buoys⁷. A sperm whale or just a couple of killer whales can pick a line clean as it's pulled in.

HARRINGTON: As far as I'm concerned, they're only thieves in tuxedoes.

BOLTON: Harrington retired⁸ a few years back, and he says the problem only got worse. The National Marine⁹ Fisheries Service estimates that whales eat about $3.1 million worth of Alaska black cod per season. Other regulators are still estimating those numbers for halibut, but fishermen say they're losing thousands of dollars per trip. Roy Wilson delivered his last halibut load of the season in early November. And he says he ended the trip early because of killer whales.

ROY WILSON: We just left a lot of fish on the grounds, probably $50,000 worth of fish on the grounds and - that we won't ever see again. But at least the fish are alive.

BOLTON: Despite smaller paychecks for both him and his crew, Wilson is happy killer whales didn't steal more of his catch. A potential solution to this problem is coming from new regulations. In the coming years, longline fishermen in Western Alaska will be allowed to catch halibut in longline pots, something black cod fishermen in the region have done for years. And those in the Gulf¹⁰ of Alaska began in 2017. Instead of fish being exposed on hooks along the ocean floor, fish swim into enclosed containers, seeking the bait inside. The pots protect the catch from hungry whales.

R WILSON: If everybody could go to pots, it would be a great thing for the fishery.

BOLTON: There are reasons some fishermen are reluctant to make the switch. Pots take up more space on the fishing grounds, and they can get tangled¹¹ with traditional longline gear. That's why North Pacific regulators prohibited pots in the '80s and '90s. But now that regulators have reapproved the gear, there is another barrier.

ERIK VELSKO: The gear is just so expensive.

BOLTON: Homer longliner Erik Velsko is thinking about spending $200,000 just to get started. Velsko also views the switch as a conservation measure, as he fears black cod managers are underestimating just how many fish whales are eating.

VELSKO: I think if we just keep doing what we're doing, it's just going to get worse and worse and harder and harder every year.

BOLTON: He may stop black cod fishing all together if he can't afford the switch to pots. Back on the deck of Wilson's boat, his 28-year-old daughter Marissa Wilson is cleaning fish. She worked for her dad full-time¹² up until last year, when she took a desk job in conservation.

MARISSA WILSON: This is the first year that I haven't gone out fishing and it's been - I've had to do a lot of soul searching.

BOLTON: She's been thinking about buying her own boat. But deciding what to fish for is a big financial decision.

M WILSON: It's - I don't think I'll ever stop feeling like a fisherman. I'm taking a little hiatus, but I've always got my eyes on the ocean.

BOLTON: She's thinking about fishing for black cod. And if she invests in pots, she won't have to worry about those thieves in tuxedoes. For NPR News, I'm Aaron Bolton in Homer, Alaska.

(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN BUTLER TRIO SONG, "SPRING TO COME")

1 cod   

n.鳕鱼；v.愚弄；哄骗

参考例句：

• They salt down cod for winter use.他们腌鳕鱼留着冬天吃。
• Cod are found in the North Atlantic and the North Sea.北大西洋和北海有鳕鱼。

2 killer   

n.杀人者，杀人犯，杀手，屠杀者

参考例句：

• Heart attacks have become Britain's No.1 killer disease.心脏病已成为英国的头号致命疾病。
• The bulk of the evidence points to him as her killer.大量证据证明是他杀死她的。

3 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 swarming   

密集( swarm的现在分词 )； 云集； 成群地移动； 蜜蜂或其他飞行昆虫成群地飞来飞去

参考例句：

• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。
• The beach is swarming with bathers. 海滩满是海水浴的人。

6 sperm   

n.精子，精液

参考例句：

• Only one sperm fertilises an egg.只有一个精子使卵子受精。
• In human reproduction,one female egg is usually fertilized by one sperm.在人体生殖过程中，一个精子使一个卵子受精。

7 buoys   

n.浮标( buoy的名词复数 )；航标；救生圈；救生衣v.使浮起( buoy的第三人称单数 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神

参考例句：

• The channel is marked by buoys. 航道有浮标表示。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Often they mark the path with buoys. 他们常常用浮标作为航道的标志。 来自辞典例句

8 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

9 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

10 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

11 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

12 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。