Fish have fallen prey to our greed
We do not care much about fish. Maybe it is because they are cold and slimy. Or because they live way out in the sea where we cannot see them. Maybe it is because they are just too "other". But that we do not care about fish is obvious, because we are driving them to extinction on a scale that, if it were happening on land, would provoke riots.
Take cod. In the 1990s, the fisheries of the grand banks of Newfoundland - where cod were once so plentiful they could be scooped up in baskets - collapsed. Cod had been plundered in such numbers that they might never recover. The same is now happening in the North Sea, according to the UK's Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, which recommended this month that a third of the UK's waters be closed to fishing to replenish stocks.
That advice was ignored. Fish are fair game, it seems. They are the last wild creature most people eat. Fish are - or used to be - hunted by men who braved stormy, hostile seas. But the technical wizardry of modern fleets means fishing can hardly be described as "hunting" any more. Instead of prey, fish have become a simple commodity.
Trawlers use sonar and radar to detect shoals of fish - even small and far away shoals - and scoop up vast quantities in high-tech nets. As home waters become exhausted, they can travel further and trawl deeper. If fishermen complain they are being put out of a job, this is more the result of the industrial revolution in fishing than the imposition of quotas.
Mechanisation has emptied the seas with brutal efficiency. As fish are wild, and do not respect borders, attempts to conserve them run into trouble. Monitoring catches is tricky, costly and time-consuming.
In an effort to get round these problems, we have - with some success - tried to farm fish. The factory farming techniques that have made life hell for so many land animals have been extended to the sea. Farms have been blamed for polluting the sea with chemicals, incubating diseases that spread to wild stocks and altering the genetic make-up of wild fish for the worse.
But if we care so little about fish, perhaps we ought to leave trawlers to empty the seas. Would it matter?
Aside from the devastation to the world's fishing fleets and coastal economies, the unchecked extermination of fish might have disastrous effects elsewhere. Scientists have recently discovered the health effects of fish oils, which help prevent heart disease and benefit the brain. We would also lose any further discoveries from fish - such as the natural, non-tissue-damaging anti-freeze from teleost fish.
Then there is global warming. We know the oceans play a big part in climate regulation, but we do not know the interplay of complex parts of this system - such as plankton, which may either lock up carbon from the atmosphere and cool the earth or keep it close to the surface, where it contributes to warming.
There are not plenty more fish in the sea. If we do care about fish, we should start showing it.
海洋鱼类：人类贪婪的牺牲品
我们不大在乎鱼类。或许是它们冷冰冰、粘乎乎之故。或者因为它们生活在远离我们的海中，我们见不着。要么就是因为它们实在太“另类”了。但显而易见的是，我们不在乎它们，因为我们正将它们推上灭绝之路，如果这种作法的规模发生在陆地上，会引起骚乱。
以鳕鱼为例。纽芬兰的鳕鱼资源一度非常丰富，用篮子就可以舀上来，但上世纪90年代，纽芬兰广阔海岸的渔业崩溃了。鳕鱼遭到如此大肆的掠夺，可能永远也恢复不到原先的数量了。据英国皇家环境污染委员会(Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution)称，同样的情形正在北海发生。该委员会本月建议，英国三分之一的水域应禁渔，以补充渔业资源。
但人们对这一建议置之不理。鱼似乎天生就是人们的捕捞对象。它们是多数人都吃的最后一种野生动物。在狂暴、险恶的大海中，鱼是（或者说一度是）勇敢搏击者猎取的对象。但现代捕鱼船队拥有的奇妙技术意味着，几乎再也不能把捕鱼描述成“狩猎”了。鱼已不再是狩猎对象，而成了一种简单的初级商品。
拖网渔船采用声纳和雷达来侦测鱼群，甚至可以测到遥远的小鱼群，然后用高科技网将大量的鱼捞上来。随着领海渔业资源枯竭，这种船可以开得更远，拖网拉得更深。如果渔民抱怨自己失去了工作，那么这更多是由渔业的工业革命、而不是实行配额限制造成的。
机械化以奇高的效率捞空了海洋的鱼类资源。由于鱼是野生的，而且不分国界，因而保护渔业资源的努力就陷入了困境。监控捕获量既棘手，成本又高，而且还费时。
为了解决这些问题，我们已开始尝试渔业养殖，而且取得了一些成功。工厂养殖技术已令许多陆上动物过上悲惨生活，目前这种趋势已向海洋拓展。人们指责养殖场用化学品污染了大海，滋生了各种疾病传播给野生鱼群，还使野生鱼群的基因构造恶化。
但如果我们对鱼类抱无所谓态度，或许我们应该让拖捞渔船把大海里的鱼捕完。但有什么要紧吗？
如果将鱼类赶尽杀绝的行为得不到遏止，除了令世界各地的渔业船队荒废、沿海经济被破坏以外，可能还会在其它领域造成灾难性后果。科学家最近已发现鱼油具有保健效果，它有助于预防心脏病并有益于大脑。我们还将失去在鱼身上作出进一步发现的机会，如在硬骨鱼体内发现天然的、不损伤组织的防冻物质。
接着就是全球变暖问题。我们知道，海洋在气候调节中发挥着重大作用，但我们不知道这个系统复杂组成部分间的交互作用，如海上浮游生物。浮游生物可能要么吸收大气中的碳元素，从而降低地球温度，要么让碳靠近水面，从而造成地球变暖。
海中的鱼已经不是很多了。如果我们真的在乎鱼类，就应该用行动来证明。
